Employees want to work from home: No flexibilization without health protection

Working from home is here to stay: The proportion of professionals in service and knowledge professions who regularly work from home has risen from around 30% to almost 90% in the last four years. The majority also prefer to work from home two to three days a week. This is shown by the latest survey of the 85,000 members of the platform associations Kaufmännischer Verband Schweiz, Angestellte Schweiz, Swiss Leaders, SwissAccounting, Zürcher Gesellschaft für Personal-Management ZGP, Sales Swiss, Kaderverband des öffentlichen Verkehrs KVöV and Swiss Engineering.

Adapt labor law to reality

The current employment law is designed for fixed working hours in the company. "There is an urgent need to adapt the law to the reality of flexible working models and lifestyles in order to meet the changing needs and expectations of employees and employers," says Ursula Häfliger, Managing Director of the platform. "However, this potential flexibilization of work must not come at the expense of health, which is why particular attention must be paid to health protection when amending the law. Certain limits must be set to the dissolution of work boundaries."

Working from home improves well-being and balance

The survey shows that employees who regularly work from home are significantly more satisfied with their autonomy at work, which, according to numerous scientific studies, can compensate for stress. Conversely, people who would like to work more from home but are not allowed or able to do so are much less satisfied with their work-life balance. Respondents cited home office options and fixed times of unavailability as the most important factors for recovery. "This clearly shows that flexibility combined with clear boundaries is the key to the success of working from home," explains Häfliger.

Double burden increases risk of illness

The results also highlight the challenges of the double burden of gainful employment and family work (or care work). The professionals surveyed work a lot for their employers or their own company: the majority work more than 42 hours per week. In addition, around 20% have a very high total weekly workload of more than 58 hours due to paid and unpaid work. This high total workload has been proven to increase the risk of illness. The balancing role of self-determined flexibility on stressors is also undisputed in occupational medicine. The platform survey thus provides clear indications of how workload and satisfaction are linked in terms of flexibility and work-life balance.

Ensuring flexibility and health protection

The regulations on working from home proposed in the consultation draft of the Committee of the Council of States largely correspond to the proposals of the platform following its last survey on working from home in 2020. They not only create more flexibility, but also set limits and protection mechanisms for employees.

However, certain aspects must be taken into account in any case:

• The legal regulation should apply to all employees who can and want to work from home.
• Rest periods must be regulated in such a way that recovery is possible and realistic: interruptions and working on Sundays are not conducive to this.
• The regulation of unavailability is health-preserving and therefore indispensable.
• The inclusion of teleworking contracts in the Swiss Code of Obligations, including regulations on health protection, defines the guidelines for working from home for companies and their employees and is absolutely essential.

The platform calls for clear legal regulations that ensure working from home is part of the modern working world, take into account the flexibility of work and guarantee adequate health protection.

Source: www.die-plattform.ch