Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

They keep doing that until he looks for a new job and his successor makes remote work a condition when being hired ;-)

Returning from remote work leads to an outright revolt in some companies – a very large German bank wanted to offer 40% remote work, in exceptional cases 60%. Naturally, everyone wanted to be the exception. The result now is that 60% is the standard.

There is definitely movement in the topic of remote work. I work for a very conservative employer in the public sector. Before corona, up to 2 days of remote work per week were possible with the approval of the direct supervisor and the department head. Meanwhile, everyone is allowed to do 2 days remote work and additionally 20 days per year remotely, the dates of which can basically be chosen and accumulated according to one’s own preference.

But even this is not the end of the current discussion. Yesterday, a urgently needed applicant for a staff position declined the contract offer because the current regulation allows too little remote work. The office management was completely stunned because this made the 6-month recruiting process obsolete and the urgently needed position will not be filled.

From my point of view, remote work also has significant advantages for employers. Our daughter has been sick since last night and therefore couldn’t go to daycare today. If my wife and I were not both working remotely, one of us would have to report “sick child” today and would not work. So today we share the care together with grandma and arrange our working hours around the little one.

My boss would rather shut down the business than offer more than one day of [HO] per week. :rolleyes: And he is even more stubborn with the male colleagues, since they supposedly have women at home who take care of the family logistics. The man is in his early 50s and lives like it's the 1950s. He also didn’t build the company from the sofa.

My boss would rather shut down the business than offer more than one day of remote work per week. :rolleyes: And he is even more stubborn with the male colleagues, because they apparently should have women at home to take care of family logistics. The man is in his early 50s and lives as if it were the 1950s. He wouldn’t have built the company from his couch either.

Wonderful, and despite this arrogant point of view, these people are wealthy. Or precisely because of it?
This harsh mindset of the 'old, gray men' also took a toll on my wife a few years ago.
They still partly don’t understand digitalization.

Yes, some people simply have a pessimistic view of humanity. They think that if you are not "monitored," you just hang out in the garden or park and let the sun shine on your back. That is partly true, of course, but if you are simultaneously fulfilling your obligations, there's nothing wrong with that. For others, it is the case that they simply are not the home office type at all and need the office environment to work. They are usually not capable of working asynchronously but are the type who then personally burst into the office and want to get a question answered quickly. Unfortunately, these types cannot imagine that one can also work effectively (and efficiently) in a different way and that some types of people can even work more effectively (efficiently) this way. This is not fully accepted at the very top management level even in our very modern and open company. Diffuse reasons such as the lost team spirit, etc., are then cited. In reality, however, it is only about individual cases exploiting the situation, and they believe that the only way to prevent this is to reintroduce mandatory attendance. Fortunately, this is not supposed to be reintroduced while Corona is still pandemic.

My boss would rather shut down the place than offer more than one day of working from home per week. :rolleyes: And with the male colleagues, he is even more stubborn, since they supposedly have women at home who take care of family logistics. The man is in his early 50s and lives like it’s the 1950s. He wouldn’t have built the company from the sofa, after all.

Yeah, I once worked at a company like that too. The boss and owner is now 79 years old and can’t let go of the reins because he built the company and therefore only he knows what’s right...

About ten years ago, we wanted to set up a big online shop and shipping operation, which back then was very innovative for medical supply stores and had huge revenue potential. It was rejected at the time with the words: Online retail will never catch on. And what will we do with our fleet of vehicles if a service provider takes over shipping?

Long story short: I’m glad I left and I will never work for a medium-sized company again.

wonderful and despite this arrogant point of view, these people are wealthy. Or precisely because of that? This harsh thinking of the 'old, grey men' also affected my wife a few years ago. They still partially have not understood digitalization.

that we only have one laptop for five colleagues is the current state of our digitalization. :D Many things run very well here, but working from home is a red flag. My husband works as an engineer in the field of plant planning and also fights for every day of working from home at his employer. Three days a week would easily be possible. "They just don’t answer the phone when you need them" is the argument there. My husband just dryly replied that it's no different in the office. I think many ignore how high the proportion of employers is that do not want to become modern. And depending on the region, they also get away with it. See part-time discussions and parental leave for fathers. As a woman, I am not so optimistic about that.