Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund

DGB-Index Gute Arbeit

Working from Home is considered an essential feature of a "new normality" in the world of work. And indeed, in recent years the proportion of employees who do some of their work from home has increased. The Corona pandemic has seen this trend dramatically increase.

But even after the end of the pandemic, telework will remain very important. Many employees would like to be able to do at least part of their work from home. More freedom to organise both their own work and working hours is an important reason for this.

However, despite greater freedom to organise their work, employees working from home more often report heavy burdens due to their working hours: Unpaid work for the company and excessively long working hours of more than 48 hours per week are more widespread.

In order for homeworking to actually contribute to a better quality of work and life, good framework conditions are needed. This is made clear by the results of the employee survey with the DGB Good Work Index 2020.