Prevalence of Working from Home in the New Normal // ZEW Study on the Current and Planned Use of Remote Work

ZEW Study on the Current and Planned Use of Remote Work

80 per cent of companies in information economy offer remote work options.

Unlike before the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has now become a lasting fixture in German firms. Currently, 80 per cent of firms in the information economy have their employees working from home at least once a week. Even within the more location-bound manufacturing industry, this number stands at 45 per cent. Firms anticipate working from home to become even more widespread over the next two years. These are the results of a representative survey conducted by ZEW Mannheim among approximately 1,500 firms regarding the prevalence of work-from-home offers in the post-COVID-19 work landscape - the so-called new normal.

"As the current prevalence of work-from-home-offers in June 2023 shows, the trend towards hybrid work, set in motion by the pandemic, remains unbroken," comments Dr. Daniel Erdsiek, a researcher in ZEW's "Digital Economy" Unit. "On average, the current share of employees working from home at least once a week is roughly on par with the figures from the past three years. Moreover, firms anticipate an expansion of work-from-home offers over the next two years, rather than a decline in the share of employees using those offers."