Berlin: German company executives are skeptical about their employees’ work at the head office in an international comparison.
This is the result of a representative Yougov survey on behalf of LinkedIn of 2,000 executives from eleven countries. According to this, a good third of managers (37 percent) in Germany fear negative consequences for their company if they allow employees to work flexibly. In an international comparison, only respondents in Ireland were even more concerned about this point (40 percent). In Italy it is only 20 percent, the general average is 30 percent.
Managers view their own role in a positive light
Above all, skeptics among German managers fear that employees will not carry out their work at the head office. 38 percent of those surveyed expressed these concerns. Only in the Netherlands was the value as high. Managers in Italy and Brazil (17 percent each), Great Britain (21 percent) and France (22 percent) have significantly fewer concerns on this point.
When it comes to their own role, managers have fewer reservations. The majority of respondents (71 percent) consider themselves capable of managing a spatially distributed workforce.
At the same time, they admit possible challenges: for example, they fear that cooperation within teams will become more difficult. In addition, they can imagine that employees who work in the home office feel at a disadvantage in terms of promotions or career development. More than two-thirds (70 percent) want to see their employees in the office three to five days a week in the future. Only in the Netherlands is this value even higher, at 82 percent.
Despite all the concerns, more than four-fifths of managers surveyed in Germany (84 percent) see the benefits of working from home. For example, you can also hire applicants who need flexibility due to family obligations or who do not live in the immediate vicinity.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211126-99-152523 / 4
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