Flexibility of the place of work
From a fixed office to a flexible workplace
Making the workplace more flexible makes it easier for employees to reconcile family and career. Find out here how you can support your employees in this and which methods have proven particularly successful.
Digitalization has significantly changed the world of work and enables many people to work from different locations. By making the workplace more flexible, you can support your employees in balancing family and career. However, it should be noted that this model cannot be implemented equally in all professional fields. In industry or production processes, it is often not possible to work without attendance times.Companies in these sectors can check whether they are able to accommodate their employees in other ways when it comes to work-life balance. Models for making working hours more flexible are conceivable here. In principle, each company must find the model that suits it and its employees best. Where it is possible to make the place of work more flexible, it brings great advantages for the compatibility of family and career.
Advantages of a flexible work location: time savings and improved results
First and foremost, a flexible workplace saves employees time. Travel and commuting times are eliminated or can be used productively. It also gives employees more freedom in the way they organize their work. Family tasks such as childcare can be organized more easily and adapted to individual daily routines. This can lead to higher quality work results.
Exploiting the opportunities of digitalization
Digitalization opens up many opportunities for flexible work location and working hours. Mobile devices and laptops are widely used in large parts of the working world. Cloud-based work processes enable employees to access relevant data and content from almost anywhere.Against this backdrop, the following two models have established themselves as the most tried-and-tested options for flexible work location design:
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Home office
When working from home, employees carry out their work from home.A quiet environment that enables concentrated work and the technical requirements for processing and electronically transmitting work results must be guaranteed. The company usually provides a laptop and, if necessary, a company cell phone. Working from home is the most common model for flexibilizing work locations and working hours. Employees often agree on a fixed day of the week with their employer. According to their own information, four out of ten companies in Germany offer home office options for their employees.
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Mobile working
Mobile working gives employees the opportunity to carry out their work while on the move, for example on business trips, while commuting or at the customer's premises. Here, too, the same technical requirements must be met as for working from home and the chosen workplace must enable concentrated and careful work. You and your employees should also agree on the details of mobile working. A clear regulation on the issue of availability, for example, prevents employees from feeling under pressure due to a feeling of constant availability.
Transparent communication and trust are essential
If you allow your employees to work from a flexible location, you should communicate this transparently to the entire workforce - as well as the premise that a flexible working location requires the same level of availability and conscientiousness at work as working from home. This way, nobody feels excluded or disadvantaged. If there is also a regular exchange and joint evaluation of work processes, working from home and mobile working are a win-win situation for you and your team.
Good company examples from practice
Where can we find help and advice?
The Mittelstand-Digital network supports small and medium-sized companies throughout Germany on their path to digitalization and enabling remote work.
You can call +49 2224 922 544 or send an email to mittelstand-digital@wik.org to find out more about what the Mittelstand-Digital network has to offer without obligation.
