Mobile working
Labor Minister Heil plans legal entitlement to home office
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil wants to enable more flexible work. Photo: Britta Pedersen / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The world of work has changed fundamentally since the outbreak of the pandemic. The switch to the home office was particularly drastic for many. The Minister of Labor promises: flexible working will remain with us.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) wants to establish the home office permanently in everyday German work.
“I am in favor of the fact that we draw fundamental consequences for the world of work from the corona-related, unplanned large-scale attempt to work from home,” said Heil of the German press agency. According to the minister, the Ampel-Coalition will create “modern rules for mobile working in Germany” and a legal right to work from home: “A modern regulatory framework for mobile working is coming.”
Heil’s plans provide that employers must enable their employees to work from home in the future – unless operational reasons speak against it. “If they want to reject this, there must be operational reasons against it – for example because you work on the blast furnace in the steelworks and of course you can’t work from home,” Heil explained.
Compatibility of family and work
“But if the employer cannot give any operational reasons, then the legal right to be able to use home office applies. This finally gives many people the opportunity to work from home even after the pandemic. This is how we create a better work-life balance. ” For many people, mobile working means “a new freedom”, stressed Heil.
But his perception is also that many do not want to work from home permanently, but only occasionally. For this, too, he wanted to “create more flexibility,” said Heil.
With the start of the corona pandemic in spring 2020, the practice of mobile working in Germany has fundamentally changed. Employers who previously did not do this voluntarily have been obliged since November to offer their employees work from home – unless there are operational reasons against it. Heil wants to establish this duty permanently.
Home office also has disadvantages
At the same time, however, the Minister of Labor also pointed out “the downsides in the home office”, which he absolutely wanted to narrow down. «Work shouldn’t make you sick. Even in the home office there has to be time after work. ” This is also taken into account by the regulatory framework on which his party SPD agreed with the Greens and FDP.
According to the latest information from the Munich-based Ifo Institute, according to a company survey in December of last year, 27.9 percent of employees worked at least temporarily in the home office. In August the rate was 23.8 percent.