Remote work and health

Recent surveys by DAK Gesundheit indicate that the sick leave rate in 2023 across various professional groups, including IT, was at a record high. While the average sick leave rate across all professions was 5.5 percent, IT jobs showed the lowest rate at only 3.7 percent. Although still significantly below average, this is a notable increase compared to 2021, when the sick leave rate in the IT sector was at 2.3 percent.

Health Benefits

The option to work from home has proven to be beneficial for many IT professionals. This flexibility reduces stress factors such as commuting times and enhances overall well-being, leading to fewer illness-related absences.

Remote work allows employees to better balance their work and personal health. For example, they can take regular breaks, eat healthier, and have more time for exercise and relaxation. These factors contribute to lower stress levels and better physical health, which in turn leads to a lower rate of sick leave.

Ergonomics & Quality

Many IT professionals have created home working environments that are often better equipped than their company offices, with ergonomic chairs, height-adjustable desks, and multiple state-of-the-art monitors. These superior conditions at home contrast with office environments that often cannot compete. In some cases, even basic hygiene standards such as hot water for proper hand hygiene are missing, which is particularly critical in the context of the pandemic. Additionally, frequent general structural deficiencies highlight the discrepancy between home comfort and office working conditions.

Returning to the Office: Complex Challenges in Pandemic Times

In addition to ergonomic discrepancies, many companies are inadequately prepared for the ongoing risks of the coronavirus pandemic. Offices often lack air filtration systems, and open-plan offices, which are typical for many IT companies, increase the risk of infection. The absence of effective hygiene concepts and the spatial closeness in many office environments add to the risk factors. This combination of inadequate ergonomic conditions and increased health risks due to the pandemic could be one of the triggers for the increase in sick leave. Moreover, general dissatisfaction with returning to the office and the associated working conditions has been shown to significantly increase employee turnover.

Returning to the Office: “Back2Office” and its Consequences

Meanwhile, there are also increasingly large companies striving for employees to return to the office, often without a clear vision or understandable reasoning. This leads to a feeling among employees of being present just for the sake of showing presence. In some companies, this has led to a turnover rate of up to 50%, with top performers leaving the company. The drain of skills and experience not only impairs the companies’ performance but also makes recruiting more difficult. Especially in the IT sector, there is often no longer any understanding for the obligation to work from the office, complicating the recruitment of new talent.

Conclusion: A Critical Look at Modern Work Models

The combination of remote work, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and “Back2Office” initiatives raises important questions regarding the design of modern workplaces. While flexible work models offer benefits for employee health and satisfaction, inflexible office requirements can lead to significant personnel losses. Companies should consider these factors to promote a forward-looking and sustainable work culture.

This blog post builds on an article from Heise and aims to provide a deeper insight from the “inside of IT,” based on the experiences of a multitude of friends and colleagues spread throughout the IT landscape.