After the pandemic, many entrepreneurs want to allow more home working than before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis. But even more want to return to their usual office presence once the exceptional circumstances are over.
The majority of employees feel the same way: many are currently suffering from increased back pain and headaches while working from home, and feel isolated and unmotivated. Nevertheless, many will remodel their offices after the pandemic to promote important personal interaction, according to experts at Larbig & Mortag Immobilien in Cologne.
During the second lockdown, more than 40 percent of employees who can do their jobs remotely have been working from home since fall 2020. Employees with long commutes to work particularly appreciate the new way of working. But the longer this coronavirus-related work from home continues, the more the disadvantages become apparent. A new Fellows study from the beginning of the year shows that among the 1,000 employees surveyed in Germany who have been working from home for at least four months, 48 percent complain of increased physical strain and, as a result, back, head, or neck pain. Thirty-four percent feel isolated when working remotely, and more than 40 percent feel unmotivated.
One of the main reasons for this result is certainly that most employees find working conditions at home to be worse than in the office. This starts with desks and ergonomic office chairs: Around 30 percent sit at the kitchen or dining table or work from the sofa, as the survey revealed. 41 percent do not have a separate study or another room where they can retreat and concentrate on their work. If they also have small or school-age children to look after at home and help with homeschooling, it is often impossible to concentrate. "Many people have no choice but to work early in the morning or late at night to get their work done. Many find it difficult to separate work and private life," explains Uwe Mortag, managing partner of Larbig & Mortag Immobilien. In short, while most employers provide their employees with PCs, notebooks, or tablets and the necessary software, there is a lack of space and professional office furniture like they are used to in their offices.
There was hardly any time to buy office furniture for home offices during the first lockdown
"It's important to remember that almost all employees went into home office overnight during the two lockdowns, so companies didn't have time to buy the appropriate furniture and have it set up in individual apartments and houses," explains real estate expert Mortag. After all, before the pandemic, most employees only worked remotely for a few hours or on individual days.
If employees are to work from home on a long-term and more frequent basis, their employer is obliged to provide them with a legally compliant teleworking station. This costs around €3,000 to €5,000 per workstation for office furniture, lighting, technology such as printers, firewalls, etc. This is because, according to the Workplace Ordinance for Teleworking, employers have a duty of care towards their employees. During the current exceptional situation, there was no other option, but if employees are to work from home on a long-term basis and several days a week, employers will have no choice but to make these investments. Office workstations are generally already equipped and furnished in accordance with legal requirements.
Majority of companies want more presence in the office after the pandemic
But it is not only many employees who have concerns about working from home for long periods of time. According to a survey of 1,200 companies conducted by the German Economic Institute (IW), only a third of managers want to allow their employees to work from home more after the pandemic than before the coronavirus crisis. Only 6.4 percent plan to reduce their office space in the long term because they assume that they will need less space due to the increased use of home offices. Companies with more than 250 employees are most likely to do so. "This is in line with our experience since March 2020. Although some companies are more hesitant about their expansion plans, there is hardly any demand from office tenants to reduce their space and sublet parts of it, for example," says expert Mortag. Accordingly, the office market has generally weathered the crisis well so far. Average and prime rents in Cologne and Bonn are largely stable. The vacancy rate has risen only marginally, from 2.23 percent to just under 3.60 percent in Cologne. Mortag believes that landlords will have to offer more incentives such as rent-free periods for new leases because the office space market for smaller spaces of up to 500 square meters has eased.
The real estate service providers at Larbig & Mortag: According to the IW study, just under 17 percent of the companies surveyed want to convert their space in the medium term to create more open communication areas and promote personal interaction. "We are also observing this. Office spaces for two to four people are being converted into open spaces that allow more room between desks and facilitate more interaction. The pandemic has taught us that face-to-face contact between colleagues is immensely important for creativity and problem solving. A Zoom conference can hardly achieve this. Mortag is certainthat the number of communication areas in offices will therefore increase significantly.
But this trend was already apparent before the outbreak of the pandemic. Now, however, even more managers realize how crucial personal interaction in the office is for knowledge transfer, creativity, and personal well-being.
