Germany: Employer’s perception of remote work effects on productivity, creativity, and satisfaction

To elicit employers’ perception of potential effects of remote work, they were asked whether they believe employees to be less or more productive, creative, or satisfied when they work remotely roughly two days a week as compared to working on-site their entire working time.

In Germany, 22% of employers think that employees working remotely twice a week are more productive as compared to working on-site the entire working time. While 37% of employers do not expect a positive or negative effect on worker productivity, nearly one third of employers (30%) report lower levels of productivity if employees work remotely. Overall, 11% of firms have not answered this question. Companies in the information and communication industry and the knowledge-intensive services industry share the most optimistic views about potential productivity effects of remote work. In both industries, the share of firms indicating higher productivity levels among remote workers exceeds the share of firms expecting rather negative productivity effects of remote work.

Companies are divided when it comes to assessing whether remote work affects employee creativity. On average, roughly 21% believe that remote work negatively affects employees’ creativity, while the share of companies who perceive positive effects on creativity also amounts to 21%. In contrast, nearly half of the companies (46%) believe that employees’ creativity is not affected by the use of remote work arrangements. The companies’ views are balanced in most industries. The strongest difference in opinions can be observed among companies in the knowledge-intensive industry (M). While 19% of these companies expect positive effects on creativity, the share of companies with pessimistic expectations amounts to 29%.

In contrast to the previous results on productivity and creativity, employers are much more likely to see benefical effects of remote work on employees’ job satisfaction. 59% believe that remote work increases job satisfaction. Only 7% of companies believe that remote work has a negative effect on employees’ job satisfaction. Some strong differences emerge across industries. Companies in the information and communication industry and the financial and insurance industry are most optimistic about positive effects of remote work on job satisfaction (81% and 78%). In contrast, companies in the manufacturing industry are less likely to expect positive effects (57%).