After two years of the pandemic, many employees are being summoned back to the office. The desire for more flexibility is great. However, many employers still fear that performance will then decrease.
According to a study, a third of office workers in Germany have to work entirely from the office. And this despite the fact that the majority of executives are willing to give employees more flexibility, according to a survey commissioned by the technology company Slack. 77 percent of the executives surveyed stated that they would let their employees work from anywhere as long as they performed their usual services. Almost every third manager refuses to work from anywhere – for example because of fear of having too little control over the employees.
According to the study, there is a great desire for more flexibility in the workplace on the part of employees. Almost half of all office workers surveyed said they would like to work from a vacation location for some time. 13 percent have used this opportunity so far. Many drew a positive balance: 68 percent of those surveyed who had already worked from a holiday location would do so again. According to the information, only 15 percent have permission to do so.
According to the study, in the past two years, despite the desire for more freedom, only a few office workers took advantage of the opportunity for local flexibility. 73 percent of those surveyed said they had not worked outside of the office or home. Only 13 percent moved their home office to friends or family. 7 percent worked from a holiday location. For executives, it was 14 percent.
The study was conducted by the opinion research institute Yougov. The representative survey is based on online interviews with 2026 office workers from Germany in the period from May 9th to 16th. The random sample was drawn from the population of the Yougov Panel Germany in accordance with the specifications of the respective study.
