For years, Erika Elert commuted back and forth between Neustadt an der Weinstraße and Stuttgart five times a week. Traveling 300 kilometers by train every day left her with hardly any time for her personal life or family. The situation has improved since Bosch implemented a company agreement on mobile work. The corporate communications employee now works from home two days a week. On those two days, she can have breakfast with her daughter in the morning, drop her off at daycare, pick her up again, and still complete her full daily workload. “Even in the 21st century, many bosses still think that only those who are in the office are actually working. Fortunately, things are different here.” No matter where Erika Elert works now, her time clock is running. When she’s on the train, she opens her laptop, completes her tasks, and logs the time in her work time account.
Many people would like to have more flexibility and freedom in their daily work to decide what they do and when. Technology makes this possible. Maik Schneider, a software developer at the Thales Transportation Systems development center in Berlin, also has this opportunity. Starting September 1, he’ll be able to work remotely outside the office. The IG Metall works council has agreed with the employer that everyone has the right to work while on the go or from home. Maik Schneider is looking forward to it: “Recently, the daycare center closed on short notice. In the future, I’ll be able to stay home and keep working while my child naps at noon. Many problems will then no longer be problems.”
The time clock keeps running even on the go
Mobile work doesn’t just solve problems—it can also create new ones. Anyone who can work anytime, anywhere may well end up doing so. Work loses its boundaries; working hours aren’t tracked, aren’t paid, and spiral out of control. At Thales, the works council has put a stop to this. All working hours are tracked: The approximately 200 employees—mostly engineers and developers—log their working hours online when working remotely. The same rules apply to remote work as to on-site work: flexible working hours between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. from Monday through Friday; a maximum of 50 hours plus is possible, which employees can reduce individually as needed; as a rule, there is no work on Saturdays or Sundays, and no remote work during vacation, sick leave, or flex days in general.
The works council had discussed the agreement with all employees for a year. What surprised Dorothea Lay and her works council colleagues the most was that everyone voted in favor of recording working hours without exception. “Even the 53 employees not covered by the collective bargaining agreement, who are not entitled to overtime pay.”
