Work
Germany is far ahead with the home office
In an international ranking, the Federal Republic narrowly missed a podium. According to the economic researchers, it is crucial how the respective society of the countries ticks.
With 1.6 days a week, German academics work a lot from the home office in an international comparison. In a survey in 40 countries, the Munich IFO Institute determined a global average of 1.2 days – mind you not for all employees, but in people with a university degree.
There was no trend back into the offices. “Despite prominent examples of companies that bring their employees back to the office, our results show that the home office quota has been internationally stable since 2023,” says IFO researcher Mathias Dolls.
The economic researchers determined the highest home office content among full -time employees at 1.9 days in Canada. This is followed by the United Kingdom with 1.8 and Finland with 1.7 days. In addition to Germany, the USA and India also came to 1.6 days, with the proportion in the USA when looking at the further decimal places is slightly higher than in Germany.
South Korea and China behind
According to the study, the study is the least used in South Korea with 0.5 days, China and Greece with 0.6 days and Japan with 0.7 days. In the neighboring German countries, the values vary – from 0.9 days in Denmark over 1.0 in France, 1.1 in Poland, 1.2 in Austria and 1.3 in the Czech Republic up to 1.4 in the Netherlands. Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland were not part of the survey.
According to an earlier study, the fact that home office use between the countries is different is “how important individuality is in a society,” says Doll. “This usually goes hand in hand with a higher trust between employees and employers. Individuality is particularly pronounced in the English -speaking countries and explains their top positions.” Ireland and New Zealand are also above the global average.
Children make a difference – the gender does not
According to the study, how often the work is done depends on the life situation of employees. Employees with children divide their working week more often between the home office and the location of the employer, while employees without children often work either completely remote or completely on site. The researchers did not find big differences between men and women.
From November 2024 to February 2025, several ten thousand people between the ages of 20 and 64 were interviewed from November 2024 to February 2025.
dpa
Source: Stern
