Since the Corona pandemic, home office has become part of everyday working life in many companies. Most bosses want that to change soon.
Where does the 80 percent come from? The auditing and consulting firm KPMG surveyed 1,300 CEOs of large companies about how they plan to address today’s challenges. The survey also asked for opinions on the topic of home office. The results, which can be found on KPMG’s company website, predict the end of the trend of recent years.
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Home office before the end?
8 out of 10 CEOs surveyed would like to see roles that previously always worked in the on-site office back there. At the beginning of the year, only around a third wanted the majority of employees to end home offices.
Enthusiasm for hybrid models has also fallen: a few months ago, around half were in favor of splitting working hours between home and the office, but now only one in five people were in favor of splitting their working hours between home and the office.
How do bosses want to get employees to come back to the office? Salary increases, promotions or granted privileges should serve as a lure for this. This is what 90 percent of those surveyed say.
However, when looking at the downside, the reward could quickly be understood as a threat. Because better pay and advancement in the company should be the rule if employees stay and do good work.
Withholding these privileges because someone stays in the home office could almost be seen as a means of pressure.
It remains to be seen whether these statements from the CEOs will be reflected in reality and ultimately lead to an end to home offices on a broad scale. Data for 2023 from the Federal Statistical Office show a significant home office share in Germany since Corona.
Around 20 percent of all employees work from their desk at home at least sometimes, and around one in ten work regularly. This is roughly double the number before Corona. However, the proportion is slowly falling again.
By the way, the person who doesn’t believe in working from home at all is billionaire Elon Musk. He lacks any understanding of it. This is what he said in an interview about the modern way of working for many professional groups: Elon Musk considers home office not only unproductive, but also “morally reprehensible”.