Germany: Remote work in practice

In 2025, a share of 60% of companies in Germany offered remote work arrangements (RWA) to their employees. By contrast, 24% of companies reported that remote work was not feasible due to the nature of the tasks performed, while 16% do not allow employees to work remotely despite having job tasks that could be performed remotely.

The prevelance of remote work differs strongly across industries. Companies in the information and communication industry are most likely to offer RWA (94%). Nearly the same share is observed among companies in the financial and insurance industry (92%). In both industries, only around 2% of companies indicate that none of their employees have job tasks that could, in principle, be performed remotely. In addition, the share of companies that do not allow employees to work remotely despite having job tasks that could be performed remotely is rather low in both industries (4% and 6%).

In the manufacturing industry, 57% of companies allow at least some of their employees to work remotely at least some of their working hours. In this industry, around one quarter of companies indicate that none of their employees perform job tasks that could be done remotely. This share is much higher than in the observed services industries.

Larger companies are more likely to offer remote work arrangements to at least some of their employees than smaller companies. Nearly all of the large companies (95%) with 250 or more employess offer remote work arrangements. Among medium-sized companies with 50-250 employees, 83% offer such arrangements. In contrast, among small companies with 5-50 employees, the share of companies with remote work arrangements decreases to 57%. The share of companies indicating that their employees do not have job tasks that can be performed remotely strongly differs by size. Approximately one quarter of small companies (26%) indicate that their employees’ job tasks are not feasible for remote work. In contrast, this share amounts to only 6% among medium-sized companies and 2% among large companies.

The share of companies offering remote work arrangements is highest in urban locations. Three quarters of companies in urban locations in Germany offer remote work. Only 7% of companies in urban locations indicate that they do not allow RWA although their employees’ job task would, in principle, be feasible for remote work. The remaining 17% of urban companies report that their employees do not have remote work feasible job tasks.

In suburban and rural areas, a little over 50% of companies allow their employees to work remotely at least one day per week. In contrast, around 20% of companies do not offer remote work, despite having employees with remote work feasible job tasks.

Nearly half of the companies (46%) allow at least some of their employees to work remotely on 1-2 days per week. Remote work arrangements that allow for 3-4 remote working days per week are used by 21% of companies. Fully remote working arrangements with 5 or more remote working days are offered by 12% of companies. However, these fully remote arrangements often apply only to a small share of employees.

Among companies offering remote work, 76% indicate that at least some of their employees are working remotely on 1-2 days per week. 35% of companies with remote work arrangements allow at least some of their employees to work remotely 3-4 days per week and 21% allow 5 or more remote working days per week.

Employers do not indicate significant differences in the use of remote work with respect to the gender of their employees. Among all companies, a share of 15% report that more than two thirds of their female employees work remotely at least one day per week. In addition, 13% report that between one third and two thirds of their female employees work remotely. For the male employees, these shares amount to 16% and 13%.

Among companies that offer remote work, 25% report that more than two thirds of their female employees work remotely. This is very close to the share for male employees (27%). On average, 20% of companies allowing remote work indicate that none of their female employees is working remotely. This share is a little higher for their male employees (24%).