Q&A: How Do Flexible Work Arrangements Affect Working Life? - "The Home Office Demands Great Trust in Employees"

Digitalisation is making traditional boundaries melt away: these days, thanks to portable computers and mobile devices, nobody who works mostly on a Personal Computer is confined to the office chair any more. Jobs can be performed in a train or on a plane, or from the comfort of a home office. But do employers give support to such working arrangements that are flexible in terms of time and space? How far have we come from the traditional requirement of being physically present at one’s place of work? While it can be quite motivating for many employees to work from a home office, many others prefer a clearer boundary between professional and private life, according to ZEW economist Susanne Steffes.

There has been much talk about work arrangements that are flexible in terms of time and space. What in particular are we speaking about?

Flexibility in time can range from options for flex-time to absolute trust-based work hours with no core working times. Spatial flexibility has to do with performing one’s work outside the regular workplace. In terms of space as well, employees may be left to decide independently where to work, or their employer may demand that work be performed on a train or an airplane during business trips. In our research, we make a distinction between those employees who work in a home office during regular working hours, and those employees who work at home outside normal working hours, say, during evenings or weekends.

While portable workstations with Internet access have progressively replaced the fixed computer, to date relatively few employees actually work on a regular basis in a home office. Why is this the case?

One of our firm surveys has shown that about 16 per cent of employees without management duties have portable end devices provided by their employer. Among management personnel, this figure is 64 per cent. We also know that around 15 per cent of employees at these firms work in a home office, while another 15 per cent complete at least some of their work from home during evenings or weekends. Despite this, many more employees would be glad to take advantage of such options. One huge obstacle they reported is that their superiors consider it important for them to be directly present in the workplace. Flexible work arrangements such as the home office demand great trust in employees, and many superiors still seem to have reservations in this regard.

Does their hesitation have to do with a preconception that in reality, flexible work arrangements would be an invitation for dawdling?

It is hard to test this hypothesis based on surveys. What employee will voluntarily admit that they are not actually performing work in the home office? To date, we lack sufficient empirical evidence about the actual impact of working in a home office on employee productivity. However, those studies that do exist suggest the opposite – in fact, productivity tends to be greater in the home office. If it is easier to structure day-to-day work life in the home office, this can have a general motivating effect. However, flexible work should not be equated with “working around the clock”. This is the greatest worry expressed by employee representatives.

To what extent do employers and employees benefit from  home office arrangements?

A major impetus for the home office is that it simplifies the effort to reconcile family and working life. This, at least, is the opinion of the majority of employees who make use of a home office – as well as the opinion of those who would like to. However, one of our employment surveys has also shown a considerable proportion of employees who do not wish to work in flexible arrangements because they value greater separation between work and private life. Of course, it is also important to respect this preference. A solid work-life balance is correlated with greater work satisfaction, which in turn has a positive impact on productivity. In addition, many employees report being able to accomplish many tasks better in the home office because the home is quieter and, in addition, they save on commuting time. About half of the employees working in a home office also reported that they could increase their total weekly working time through the home office. This, of course, is also of benefit to their employers.