Jutta Rump was used to working in the home office even before the pandemic. The director of the Institute for Employment and Employability at the University of Economics and Society in Ludwigshafen sees her institute as an experimental space in which she tries out the concepts she is researching for herself. The business administration professor explains how companies can enable flexible working models.
SZ: According to a recent study by the consulting firm Ernst & Young, more than 80 percent of those surveyed want complete flexibility in their work in the future. Are you surprised?
Jutta Rump: You have to be careful with numbers like this. After all, people don’t say that they don’t want to work in the office anymore, they want a hybrid form. The desire for more flexibility in terms of place and time, for a better compatibility of professional and private life, increasing individualization – that was already felt before the pandemic. However, there were often hurdles. In the past, greater flexibility in work has also failed because many employers are blocked.
Will that change now?
Yes. Many employers have meanwhile given up their blocking stance. You have realized that working from home has worked in many ways. And they realize that they cannot simply ignore the change in values. In addition, many employers know that, in addition to the often established flexible working hours, they also have to offer flexibility in the place of work if they want to remain attractive to employees.
Does that also apply to medium-sized companies?
Many medium-sized companies try very hard not to let their flexibility get out of hand. They know that they have to offer home offices, but only want to do so within a calculable framework. At the moment there is a lot of discussion about the three-to-two model, i.e. three days in the office and two days in the home office.
How does it look in production companies? Do you envy those who cannot work from home?
Certainly. That used to be an argument against working from home. One did not want to stir up envy and thus no conflict. The unequal treatment cannot be dismissed out of hand. One group of employees has the freedom of choice to choose their place of work, the other is firmly tied to the location of the company due to the job profile.
How should companies deal with it?
One could of course try to keep the subject silent. But that’s not good in the long run. One could also consider offering compensation for those who do not have freedom of choice. But where should this begin and where could it end? Or you openly state that this is the way it is and that there is no other way. Fifteen years ago we talked about making working hours more flexible – back then we had the same debate about envy. After a few years, however, that subsided.
Is home office actually associated with effort for a company?
It is an old wives’ tale to believe that mobile working is cost-neutral. For managers in particular, this means a lot more effort, a lot more time. You have to initiate completely new management processes. First you have to look at each position for its suitability for the home office. Then the manager has to decide whether the employees who come into question have the necessary skills. Then you hold aptitude interviews with each individual. You also have to determine which of the tasks a person can do from home at all. And finally, the goals need to be defined. This framework must be laid down for employees and managers. Before you start, you have a so-called attack talk. When the work phase is over, you need a feedback discussion. A so-called review interview must be held after six months. So the process is complex. If you do everything right, you will find that things will go really well at some point. However, one thing has to be said very clearly: flexible working only makes sense for a company in the medium to long term if productivity does not decrease – regardless of the shortage of skilled workers.
Isn’t that what many companies fear?
In such cases, I tell companies: You couldn’t transfer old processes to a new world and hope that this is compatible. If you say A, you have to say B too. So companies have to change their management processes. If they cannot do that, they will not implement the flexible working models properly either – with negative effects in terms of productivity.
Where does Germany stand in international comparison when it comes to mobile working?
Before the pandemic, we were in the bottom third across Europe and well in the middle worldwide. In the pandemic, I would see us in the top third in Europe and worldwide.