The more attractive and flexible a company offers its working environments, the better it will be perceived by its environment. The flexibilization of the workplace in particular also plays an important role in the context of employer branding. However, many companies are driving with the handbrake on when it comes to making the workplace more flexible.
How should we imagine a home office?
In principle, it’s very simple. An employee who previously completed his work assignments from the office now does so from home. However, if you look at available studies on the topic of working from home, the establishment of external workplaces has been clearly in retreat since 2008. This is the result of a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), published in January 2014. In 2012, for example, about 4.7 million employees worked from home, while in 2008 there were about 800,000 more.
But what conditions must be created for a job relocation?
Of course, modern communication technology is used here. In addition to a central dial-up or login server for access to the company network, secure and stable Internet connections must be available. If the company works with databases, e.g. for order processing, the access through which the employee connects to the company must be clarified.
What are the possible advantages of a home office concept?
Here we need two perspectives. Once from the company’s point of view, and then, of course, from the employee’s point of view. Complete offices would be eliminated and could be used for other functions. Imputed costs are reduced, and downtimes, e.g. for smoking breaks, are completely eliminated. The employee saves nerve-wracking journeys to and from the workplace, and can plan his time planning in a much more relaxed and family-friendly way.
If you think further about concepts of home office, you also end up in the administration of cities and municipalities. There is such great potential for optimisation here that it is fair to ask why we still operate oversized administrative apparatuses.
One of the challenges associated with home office is certainly that the employee is no longer directly available as a person in the home office, and can therefore not directly contribute to the internal workflow. The separation of professional and private interests is certainly not easy either. With the right organization and the availability of appropriate modern technology, good cooperation should also succeed over a distance.
Result
The flexibilisation of workplaces offers enormous advantages for employers and employees. With the right use of the technology available today, it is possible to effectively operate a workplace outside the company without any problems. You just have to want it.
What has been your experience with working from home? We look forward to your comments.
Image source: Fotolia.com, Photographer: Photographee.eu
