Working from home has many advantages, although it is not without its drawbacks
As Deutsche Welle notes, the coronavirus pandemic has radically changed the lives of Germans – both private and professional. Since May, Germany has been gradually lifting the restrictions that were in place during the lockdown. Life is slowly returning to normal, although politicians and virologists agree that final normalization will only be possible when a vaccine for the virus finally becomes available.
So it will obviously be necessary to observe certain precautionary measures and rules of social distancing for quite some time yet, and some forced innovations will likely become everyday practice. For example, remote work, which was not very widespread in Germany before. But during the COVID-19 epidemic, it became a mass phenomenon, and also the subject of a sociological study conducted by the Hamburg firm Avantgarde Experts und Splendid Research.
The just-published results of a representative survey confirmed some common notions about working in the so-called 'home office' mode or simply remotely, but also presented a number of surprises.
Unsurprisingly, almost all respondents who had not previously worked from home perceived it as a radical change. Almost half of the respondents (48%) had their mood worsen because of this. But only a third complain of increased stress, and only a quarter of respondents felt that their situation had become worse. For 62% of respondents, the workday now begins much more calmly, since there is no hassle of commuting to the office – whether it be traffic jams or crowding on public transport.
At the same time, data on the health status of remote workers is extremely contradictory. Two-thirds said they developed mental or physical ailments. A third began to eat worse, although it would seem that at home it should be easier to solve the problem of healthy eating.
But at the same time, 39% of respondents (paradoxically) began to spend more time on sports and walks in the fresh air. These data are confirmed by the subjective observations of a DW correspondent, who had not previously seen such a large number of people walking without four-legged friends or jogging in one of Berlin's forest park areas with off-leash dog walking.
Among the surprises is the part of the study that compares the situation and attitude towards remote work of German families with young children and single people.
It has always been believed that working from home while also having to look after children is a force majeure situation. All the more surprising that 11% of surveyed parents stated that with the transition to remote work, it became even easier for them to provide childcare. It also turned out that the presence of children in the home does not negatively affect productivity and efficiency in the home office. Rather, the opposite.
On average, 52% of respondents say that at home they work more attentively, 48% – more productively, 50% – faster, 42% – more creatively. In each of these groups, the number of people with children at home is higher. But among those who complain that at home they are more often distracted from work, there are fewer parents than singles.
The authors of the study explain this paradox by the fact that even in normal situations, parents have to live under conditions of increased stress and have a certain organizational talent to prevent family life from turning into chaos.
Despite all the advantages that the opportunity to earn money without taking off one's slippers seems to offer, there are things that remote workers acutely miss. But even here there are paradoxes.
Almost half (49%) of respondents say they get more satisfaction from working at home than in a regular office. Moreover, many explain this fact by the absence of the need to meet with unpleasant colleagues. At the same time, it is precisely communication with colleagues (even unpleasant ones!) that they miss the most.
This is especially true for women, as well as married people. It would seem that they always have someone to exchange a word with, but it is married people (68%) who most often complain about the lack of social interaction in the home office. Among singles, less than a third do so, and the younger people are, the less they need face-to-face contact. Researchers explain this by the tendency of young people to communicate in virtual space.
Despite the ambivalent attitude towards remote work, 69% of respondents would be happy to return to their previous working conditions. Only 12% liked working from home so much that this prospect saddens them.
At the same time, 85% are convinced that things will never be the same as before. 41% of respondents believe that remote work will be practiced more often in the future than before the pandemic. 44% count on employer flexibility and hope that they will be able to work either in the office or at home depending on circumstances. A third believe that virtual business meetings will replace classic business trips in the future.
Among the paradoxical results of the study is the assessment of the impact of government restrictive measures on the personal professional situation of respondents. 30% said the impact was negative, 30% said it was none, and 39% said that as a result of these measures, their situation even improved.
There are even more optimists among those who expect positive changes in this area of their lives in the next six months – 44%. Pessimists here are only 24%.