New Work and Digitalization The Home Office as the
Working Model
of the Future?

The Home Office is a Type of Remote Work

“Remote work” or “Remote Working” refers to any type of work that takes place outside of a central location or office environment. In addition to the home office remote work also includes working from a café, a co-working space or any other location where there is a reliable internet connection. If the necessary framework conditions are in place, working from anywhere is possible.

Many companies today provide hybrid forms of work. This gives employees the opportunity to work partly in the office and partly from home or on the move.

Workation: combining Work and Vacation 🌴

A special form of remote work is workation, which is a combination of work and vacation. This gives employees the opportunity to pursue their professional obligations and spend time at a vacation location at the same time. They can work productively during their vacation instead of switching off from work completely. Workations offer a great opportunity, but also require careful planning. Choosing the right destination with a reliable internet connection and good working conditions is essential. It is also important to draw clear boundaries between work and leisure time.

Advantages for your Employees

As the most common form of remote work, the home office offers a number of advantages for your employees. These include greater flexibility, which allows them to organize their working hours and tasks according to personal preferences. Private appointments, family commitments and childcare can thus be better reconciled. By eliminating the daily commute to and from the office, employees can also save a lot of time and stress, which benefits their work-life balance. They can design it according to their individual needs. All of this can contribute to higher productivity and concentration and better performance.

But this form of working offers a number of advantages not only for employees, but also for companies that enable their employees to work from home.

Advantages for the Company

By providing home office options, companies have new opportunities to attract talented professionals - regardless of a fixed location. They have access to a larger pool of potential employees. Moreover, they can offer existing employees more flexibility and autonomy, which has a positive effect on their satisfaction and motivation - and satisfied employees are more productive. If a company operates globally, this is also a great advantage for employees working in different time zones in terms of working hours. In addition, cost savings are possible - for example by reducing office space and saving on energy, office supplies and other operational expenses.

Challenges that need to be overcome

However, employees and companies will only benefit from the opportunities if they manage to overcome the challenges associated with working from home. The basic prerequisite is working technology: in addition to a stable internet connection, your team must be equipped with the right hardware and software and, logically, IT security must also be guaranteed. The digitalization of your workflows and processes plays a key role when it comes to enabling working from home.

But it’s not enough to have the right tools. It depends on how the people deal with the situation. The mindset or way of thinking of employees should also become digital. It’s about developing an understanding of and openness to digital technologies, processes and working methods (e.g. cloud computing and automation).

This also includes ensuring team cohesion - even if the team members are scattered across many different locations and are only virtually connected. Communication, coordination and networking play an important role here using technologies such as email, chat tools and video conferencing.

It is also important to consider aspects such as the separation of work and private life, routines and daily structure as well as possible factors that can cause interruptions and distractions and, if necessary, find solutions. The home office survival guide can provide initial helpful tips. 😉

Change Management provides Support during the Transition Phase

If working from home is something new for your company, a change management can help to support employees during the transition phase. This is because it involves a number of changes, such as a new working environment, new means and channels of communication and possibly changed work processes and a different dynamic within the team. Change management helps to manage these changes and ensure that they are implemented smoothly and effectively.

Lifelong Learning in a digital Working Environment

Working from home requires employees to be continuously willing to learn in order to keep pace with the demands of the digital working world. It is an important factor in adapting to the challenges of working from home and being successful in a rapidly changing working environment.