Elon Musk provided the perfect template. “Back to the office,” the Tesla and now Twitter boss demands of his employees. After two years of the pandemic, that means it’s over now. And? Is he right? At least in some large German companies, the answer is quite clear: no. Or, as entrepreneur Fränzi Kühne puts it: “That’s just nonsense.”
Instead, trust and solidarity are two words that are used more frequently at the SZ Economic Summit in Berlin. Not the worst conclusion after two years of pandemic, a time in which work for people worldwide changed massively from one day to the next. Companies radically switched to working from home in spring 2020, including all those who had never before allowed their employees to work from home. Managers could no longer control who worked when and how. Judith Wiese, Chief Human Resources Officer at Siemens, experienced this: “Even the biggest doubters had to trust. These doubters have had a positive experience. Productivity has increased. And people were able to work independently.”
“We don’t make any rules”
The energy company RWE, for example, has introduced trust-based working hours: everyone works when they want. RWE HR Director Zvezdana Seeger says: “We don’t make any specifications. We need the younger generation and we want to show them that we’re modern.” She emphasizes that the employee representatives supported this model. Many trade unionists see the dangers of this development above all: trust can mean that people do one thing above all without time limits and in complete self-determination: work more.
Now that the pandemic is at least under control, companies are considering how to proceed. How much office do you really need? Wiese reports on group employees in Mexico who commute three hours to the office. “You have to think very carefully about why you want to be present,” says Wiese.
After all, you can’t do it without being there in the long run. But how then? Volkswagen board member Gunnar Kilian tells what digital boost the company made when the pandemic came. “Now we realize that we want to work more creatively together in presence.” Siemens board member Wiese also reports: “Wherever cooperation and creativity are required, people have to exchange information directly.” And Seeger from RWE adds: “The first meeting was personal, emotional and gave us a creative boost.”
During the pandemic, many decision-makers noticed that presence and teamwork are important for one thing in particular: creativity. So does RWE HR Director Zvezdana Seeger.
(Photo: Johannes Simon/Johannes Simon)
One wants to preserve what was achieved during the pandemic, not back to the old days. Managers and their teams decide on which day everyone comes to the office. Even in factories, more flexibility is possible than you think, says Judith Wiese from Siemens: “Where you’re not flexible in terms of location, you can be flexible in terms of time.” For bosses, the question often arises as to how much they specify and whether a clear statement is needed as to when who has to be where. Entrepreneur Kühne says: “It doesn’t need that, but personal responsibility.” The teams themselves would know much better when they want to see each other.
Everyone back to the office now? “That’s just nonsense,” says Fränzi Kühne. She pleads for personal responsibility.
(Photo: Johannes Simon/Johannes Simon)
As the new Digital Director at Edding, Kühne experienced for herself why people should meet regularly. “If you can’t see each other, it’s extremely difficult to get into a company,” she says. “In the home office, you can’t grasp what makes it tick. Corporate culture is created at the coffee machine.” Where people start talking.