Born out of necessity, the home office is becoming a popular working model. The newly gained flexibility enables a better work-life balance, is environmentally and family-friendly and shortens commutes.
Most German office workers would like to work from home for two to three days. The effects of this trend were the subject of an online press conference with Angela Mensing-de Jong, Professor of Urban Planning at the Technical University of Dresden. According to Mensing-de Jong, we are at the beginning of a change that brings with it numerous challenges for property owners, managers and investors, but also opportunities for urban planning.
"Nowadays, applicants ask about the possibility of working from home before asking for a salary," says Matthias Höppner from recruitment consultancy RecToCon Germany. "Arrangements with two to three home office days per week are favoured, without fixed requirements." Women with children in particular want the greatest possible flexibility when it comes to working from home. In management positions, working from home tends to play a subordinate role.
One argument against working from home is that the working situation at home often does not meet the legal requirements for a workplace. "In Germany, we have a workplace ordinance that regulates distances, lighting, permissible room temperature and much more down to the smallest detail," says Dr Simon Kempf, Managing Director of DLE Land Development. But in the home office, nobody is currently paying attention to this.
From the perspective of the property industry and urban development, the increase in home offices is leading to lower footfall in city centres, according to Prof. Angela Mensing-de Jong. From an urban planning perspective, the ground floor zones and therefore the bricks-and-mortar retail and catering sectors are therefore affected by the reduced presence of office workers. A mixed-use city centre is attractive and resistant to desolation and decline. Different uses benefit from each other. Modern, high-quality office space is still in demand and is an important building block for urban life to flourish.
(Photo: © Frederico Meyer, Pixabay)
