HANNOVER (dpa-AFX) - Opinions differ among office workers when it comes to working from home. This was the result of a survey presented on Thursday by the opinion research institute Yougov on behalf of the automotive supplier Continental. While just over half of the office workers surveyed (53%) said they would be able to do without mobile working altogether if they were paid more, almost as many (47%) said they would change jobs if their employers abolished or severely restricted working from home.

The coronavirus lockdowns, when many companies sent their employees to work from home, brought about a change in society "that we could not have imagined," said Conti HR Director Ariane Reinhart at the presentation of the survey. "It was such a tectonic shift during the pandemic. It went from zero to 100."

Employees prefer a mix of office and working from home

In the survey, the majority of office workers surveyed described a combination of office and home office as ideal. Just under a quarter were in favor of 20 to 49 percent working from home, and one in five for exactly 50 percent. The biggest advantage of mobile working was cited by 39% as saving time by not having to travel to the office, followed by a better work-life balance at 37%. 17% of those surveyed said they were able to concentrate more at home than in the office.

One in five (22%), on the other hand, said that work and private life could be better separated in the office, and almost as many (19%) spoke of better teamwork. 47 percent appreciate the interaction with colleagues when they meet them physically. Yougov surveyed a representative sample of 2083 office workers in April.

Reinhart warns against dividing society

Reinhart warned that this could lead to a split in society. "I also see a tendency in Germany to create a two-tier society," she said. "On the one hand, there are those who can't stay at home because they are caring, providing services or working in a factory. And the others who can also move their place of work to their home or perhaps somehow to an apartment in Mallorca." A consensus must now be found in society that takes everyone's interests into account./fjo/DP/jha