Germany: Employer’s perception of remote work effects on mental health and stress

Remote working is generally perceived as beneficial for employees’ mental health and well-being. In Germany, 49% of companies believe that remote work has advantageous effects on employees’ mental health and well-being. Only 9% of companies indicate that they expect adverse effects instead. At the same time, roughly one third of companies believe that remote work has no effect on employees’ mental health and well-being. The highest share of companies that perceive remote work has an advantage for employees’ mental health and well-being is observed in the financial and insurance industry (66%). Companies in the manufacturing industry are least likely to expect benefits for employees’ mental health or well-being due to remote work (43%).

In line with the previous results on employees’ mental health, companies often believe that remote work is linked to lower levels of job related stress. On average, nearly half of the companies (47%) expect that employees experience less job related stress when working remotely two days a week as compared to working on-site their entire working time. Roughly one third of firms do not believe that remote work is connected to the level of job related stress. In contrast, only 7% of companies expect that remote work induces higher levels of job related stress. Some industry-differences in employers’ perceptions can be observed. The most optimistic view on the relationship between remote work and stress emerges among companies in the information and communication industry.