Job survey
Would you rather work in the city or in the country? The main thing is not in Saxony
Leipzig scores quite well in the survey – overall, Saxony has a bad image
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A survey shows that the location of the employer is less important today than it was before the pandemic. But: Big cities and rural areas each have their fans – and some regions have a massive image problem.
Does it still matter where my employer is if I work from home anyway? How has the pandemic changed the view of the location question? And which criteria are important for employees today? The Königsteiner personnel consultancy wanted to know more about this and asked over 1000 employees on the subject.
Almost one in three (32 percent) is of the opinion that the company location is less important today than it was before the Corona crisis because it is more possible to work from home. In contrast, the significance is increased for only 13 percent, the rest do not see any change.
However, this result should not be overinterpreted, because the location has by no means become irrelevant, as the survey also shows: For 86 percent of those surveyed, the location of the company is still relevant for the application decision, for one in two it is even “fully relevant”.
City or country?
When asked which location is attractive, almost half of the respondents split into two camps: one side sees employers based “in a metropolis like Berlin, Munich or Hamburg” at an advantage. Just as many, on the other hand, prefer an employer based “in a smaller place, for example in a rural environment”. Interestingly, the proportion of big city fans in the party-loving young age group of 18 to 29 year olds is not significantly higher than that of all respondents. The consequences of limited leisure time options during the Corona period, but probably also the high rents, may make themselves felt here.
Even more important than the general question of big cities or provinces, however, is how easily the location can actually be reached. In addition to the lack of other infrastructure, the respondents named a lack of transport links as by far the greatest disadvantage of the location. For example, one participant says: “The company location did not offer sufficient parking, so I had to travel by bus, which was difficult due to the transport links.” And another complains: “There is no rail connection between my last employer and my place of residence. The employer provided a ticket for local public transport, but I couldn’t use it and had to drive the car and pay the costs myself.”
Many would like to read more about transport links in the company’s job advertisement. Information on the subject of living at the location is also desired there, even if it is only links to real estate and rental offers.
Saxony’s political image problem
According to the survey, Bavaria is by far the most popular state for working. Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia follow on the ranks. The most unattractive federal states were also asked: Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt are clearly ahead here. From an economic point of view, Saxony is actually the East German model country. The main reason for the rejection is not a lack of jobs or transport connections and infrastructure, but a bad image in relation to radical political currents. 72 percent of those who find Saxony unattractive cite the political situation as one of the main reasons, for Saxony-Anhalt the figure is 63 percent.
After all: In the ranking of the most popular cities, Leipzig and Dresden, the two most important Saxon representatives, also make it into the top ten. The most popular is Hamburg, followed by Munich and Berlin.
For the analysis, 1027 full-time and part-time employees were surveyed, half each with an academic and non-academic background. The respondents were between 18 and 65 years old and came from all federal states.