Ifo Survey: Home Office Gap Widens Further
On average, German companies grant 6.4 days of work from home per month. However, small businesses are increasingly falling behind.
61 % of the companies surveyed offer the possibility to work from home. But there are big differences between the sectors. And company size also plays a role in determining the extent to which companies offer their employees the opportunity to work from home. This is the result of a survey of personnel managers published annually by the Ifo Institute in cooperation with Randstad.
“In particular, trading companies and small businesses are less likely to offer work from home,” says Ifo expert Johanna Garnitz. In the retail sector, 34% of companies do so, down from 51 a year ago. On average, 5.7 days a month are spent working from home, compared to 7 days previously. In small firms with up to 49 employees, the figure is 32%, down from 46%. Here, too, employees work from home less often. On average, they work 6.6 days a month, compared to 7.4 days in the previous year.
Large companies more spendy
“In large companies and industrial firms, employees can work from home more often and longer than a year ago,” says Garnitz. Almost all surveyed companies with more than 500 employees (94 %) offer the possibility to work from home. According to the study, they allow more days per month than a year ago. The average is now 7.1 days, up from 5.3 days last year.
90 % of companies that employ between 250 and 499 employees allow home office. They allow an average of 6.2 days per month, up from 6 days a year earlier. Two-thirds of companies with 50 to 249 employees offer an average of 5.5 days, up from 6.9 days a year ago.
