Open Access

Annemarie Nickl

• The challenges of telework for employees in German companies Due to the development of modern technology and new communication devices, the world of working as it has been known in the past, has changed already during the last decade. Working remotely is a well-known strategy in order to create a more flexible and less time-consuming way of work. In the year of 2020 the business industry world-wide had to face a whole new challenge with the outbreak of the coronavirus. Within a short period of time, companies had to create a work environment that either guaran-teed a healthy and secure workspace within the company's premises or enabled the employees to work remotely. As of this change, the author of this thesis was wondering if, with all the positive aspects that this new form of work could grant, there would also be disadvantages or in this paper called, challenges that employees face in their new work environment. In order to receive answers to this question, a theoretical literature research to gain a substantial background knowledge was done. As the given situation was a new experience, with no comparable situations like this before, the author decided to create a survey which should be distributed to employees in Germany in which the participants are able to rate their recent experiences when it comes to working from home or remotely. The results of the survey have shown that there are some challenges which have to be kept in mind in order to create a fair and safe environment for every person who is working from home. The most outstanding negative aspect of telework, following the results of the survey, is the missing personal contact to co-workers and managers but also customers when working from home. Another important aspect is the lack of opportunities, to create a proper workspace at home which can guarantee a decent work atmosphere. Another result of this survey was that more than half of the participants can imagine working remotely a lot more than in the past. The results of the survey have shown, that despite of technical difficulties and other challenges faced by the people when they work remotely, most people wish to integrate this form of work a lot more in their daily life in the future. The positive aspects of telework are more valuable for most of the participants than the negative aspects.