What employees are still heading to workplaces?
Several bosses push their staff to return to the workplace after working from home. However, this practice is not effective everywhere. Frankfurt residents are particularly adamant about it.
The question of who goes back to the office, how often, and on what days is a matter of concern for both employees and employers, as they attempt to find the right balance between employees' right to work from home and the requirement to show up at the workplace physically or as an optional bonus.
There are no standard rules in place. Many companies are tightening their attendance policies and enforcing them to varying extents. Typically, attendance is not tracked or penalized. Consequently, information about attendance culture is scarce. The data collected by room and workspace reservation software, which numerous organizations use now, becomes more intriguing.
The Swiss start-up Deskbird provides such reservation tools and has analyzed the working habits of Germans for the first time. The information from the "Desk Sharing Index Germany" was exclusively given to Capital beforehand. Deskbird scrutinized bookings from more than 16,000 users in eight major German cities (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, and Leipzig).
To avoid being influenced by a few large corporations, data from between five and twelve firms with 500 to 5,000 employees was considered in each city. In total, information from more than 850,000 desk bookings in 123 small, medium-sized, and large companies was used. Additionally, from early September 2023 to the end of February 2024, data from 3,000 users in Zurich, Vienna, and Paris was analyzed for comparison.
Friday Feeling: Fewer Employees
To cut to the chase: Many offices are, in fact, vacant on Fridays compared to other days. The mean office occupancy rate in the eight German cities is approximately 46%. The busiest office day is Wednesday, with an occupancy rate of 68%, followed by Tuesday (67%) and Thursday (66.5%).
The findings indicate regional variations: on average, people in Leipzig attend the office 71% of the time (mostly on Thursdays and even Fridays), Cologne 70% (mostly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays), and Stuttgart 66% (mostly on Mondays). Frankfurt only achieves an average of 48% office attendance.
According to the "Desk Sharing Index Germany", German employees visit the workplace two to three times a week. This was also reported in other studies like the "Slack Intergenerational Collaboration Survey".
Officer Absence in Paris and Vienna
In international comparison, Germans are behind. According to Deskbird, at least 70% of Parisians are always in the office from Monday to Thursday, and the situation is similar in Vienna. Zurich outperforms both, with the highest attendance on Tuesdays (99%) and Wednesdays (97%).
Yet, the location alone is not the definitive factor for office presence. Factors such as work atmosphere and corporate culture also play a significant role. Moreover, the breakdown by company size can be insightful in this aspect. According to Deskbird data, the utilization of desks in German offices reduces as the company size increases. Small companies with fewer than 250 employees have 38% desk utilization, while large organizations with 1500 employees or more only reach a utilization rate of 30%. "In smaller companies, things are often more casual, and onsite collaboration is preferred by employees," says Ivan Cossu, founder and CEO of Deskbird.
The text appeared first on capital.de.
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Despite the push from some employers, many employees continue to work from their home offices, as indicated by the low office occupancy rates, particularly on Fridays. Moreover, surveys conducted by companies such as Deskbird and Slack Intergenerational Collaboration reveal that German employees are visiting the workplace only two to three times a week.
Source: www.ntv.de
