Home office

Zurich, 16 January 2020: Nadja's calendar shows home office. When she calls her 55-year-old manager about a project, he says: "I thought you had the day off."

Just two months later, the office is almost deserted. But nobody has the day off. Because when you have to, you suddenly have to. The concept of working from home was understood. Meetings take place online, the project management tool is maintained more neatly than ever and working hours are meticulously recorded. Team members cheerfully talk to each other on the phone, people ask about the children's noises and the office furnishings are commented on in online meetings.

In many companies, it was possible to observe how employers and employees pulled together. Compromises were made on both sides in order to guide both the employees and the company safely through the difficult situation. Now that offices are opening their doors again, the question of how to proceed with working from home is arising in many places.

Working from home: socially, ecologically and economically

According to a calculation by the Beobachter, you and others could reduce annual CO2 emissions by 67,000 tonnes if 450,000 employees in Switzerland worked from home one day a week. The savings would be achieved by reducing the number of kilometres travelled by car and public transport. If you were also to replace a large proportion of business trips with online meetings, CO2 emissions could be reduced even further. By working from home, you could also introduce flexible workplaces and save up to 30 % on office space costs*

Commuting to work in Switzerland takes an average of 44 minutes.* With a 50% home office, you would gain around 90 hours a year. You could spend this time with your family, relaxing, doing sport or helping others. Whether it's the closeness to family, the time gained or the undisturbed work - most of you are happier working from home than in the office. Various surveys and studies have come to the same conclusion: You can work more concentrated and efficiently in the home office due to fewer interruptions.

Employee wellbeing at the centre

However, the focus should not be on facts and figures, but on you as an employee. Not everyone appreciates working from home: you may not be able to manage the offboarding between work and leisure time, you may miss the interaction with the Team, or you may feel distracted by children or your partner. You may also be afraid of missing out on career opportunities because you have less contact with managers when working from home or your work is less visible. So why not ask? We recommend using the tried-and-tested tool Qualtrics to conduct a "home office pulse checker survey". We at HR Campus also work with Qualtrics and have already implemented noticeable improvements for you within a short space of time.

With an online survey, you can not only find out about your well-being, but also that of your managers. They may fear a certain loss of control if you work from home. If the survey reveals fears and concerns, HR can initiate confidence-building measures promptly.

At HR Campus, we want you to decide together as part of a team which forms of working make sense for you. After all, meetings can be more productive in a shared space, brainstorming together is often helpful for creative processes and strategic solutions are also often driven forward in a team. However, the possibility of regular home office days is a decision criterion for many people today and contributes to your well-being.

You may still be facing technical hurdles and legal uncertainty when it comes to working from home. Digitisation of internal processes has never been so relevant. With a digital employee portal, DocuSign, analytics and absence management, you can create the best conditions for working from home. If you were thrown in at the deep end with the lockdown a few months ago, we look forward to taking the opportunity with you now to advise you and tackle internal digitalisation projects.

Sources

*Observer, https://www.beobachter.ch/arbeit/arbeitgeber/home-office-tipps-fur-das-buro-zu-hause (28.06.2020)