German minister backs creating legal right to work from home | Hacker News Reader

German minister backs creating legal right to work from home

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52 pointstareqak22 comments

As a point of comparison, Germany already has a right to work part-time: if you've been with a company for more than 6 months and the company has more than 15 employees, you can ask to reduce your hours and the burden of proof is on the employer show that it cannot be accommodated if they want to deny it.

This seems similar, and it's probably far easier to organise. It's not for everybody, obviously. But among my acquaintances, I'm getting the impression that those who work at home usually do so for good reasons, such as childcare.

I do remember a few instances where people discovered they tended to slack off or otherwise be unproductive. Every single one of them also became miserable and decided to go back to the office.

I hope to god WFH doesn't become the new hotness. A big part of going into an office is the mental context switch for me. I have work time & place, and I have not work time.

WFH has made it really hard to keep the boundaries separate. I've had coworkers message me at 6/7pm at night expecting me to be there because they know I'm in front of my computer.

> A big part of going into an office is the mental context switch for me.

Perhaps homes should start including a personal office as a standard feature just like the kitchen and bathroom (which didn't always use to be a part of houses.)

This could eventually let us reclaim the space currently taken up by all the office towers, eliminating the upkeep of maintaining them, reduce daily traffic and the associated noise, pollution, stress, improving overall public health and leisure time, which in turn would improve the economy.

WFH becoming the norm is a win/win scenario, at the cost of a mere "mental context switch" for a while before civilization adapts, just like it did when the majority of humans started working inside buildings instead of farms and fields and so on. :)

A nice idea, but living space is limited and expensive in most major cities.

Wouldn't WFH give you some flexibility on location where you live?

With WFH (and even schooling from home if implemented well), you wouldn't have to live in expensive major cities.

But what if I live in a major city not only for work reasons?

Then you chose to live in an expensive city.

If WFH becomes the norm for the majority, companies may not want to maintain expensive physical offices for people who can’t (or don’t want to) work from home.

I assume even limited living spaces in major cities include a bed, desk or couch, at least.

WFH doesn’t mean “only from home” anyway; you could work from any space you have access to. Parks, restaurants, if they allow it, which I expect they will, along with many other facilities popping up for remote work. It could actually create an interesting new industry of third-party office providers.

Orthogonal problems. Fixing your policy on when your coworkers message you (and when you can respond) can be done independent of your company's WFH policy.

As for creating a physical distinction between work and home: making WFH optional will solve that too. Go to the office on days you want to, WFH on days you need to stay home.

I dont mind if it does. There are plenty of people who prefer to work from home and are more productive in doing so. I'm certainly not one of them. Just like you, I prefer the mental divide.

As for you coworkers, I would simply set fixed working hours, like in the office, and put that into calendar, skype, teams, what have you and close everything else. Thats when you stop work and are not reachable anymore.

I had the same issue as you. Got called at 8pm about a project on my private number (massive mistake handing that out to someone work related). Told them I'm not working right now, reach me under my work phone from 9-5 and call back then. Don't even allow for discussion.

WFH may not work for everyone but what this situation has taught me as an employer, is to actively encourage WFH more. I have some staff who commute an hour each way. We are an IT services firm, so don't all have to be in the office all the time.

Most companies set the limit on the working hours and its not such a big issue to adopt to. Post covid-19 this trend of WFH is going to be the norm

Even the software service companies are realizing the benefits of WFH. https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/post-coronavi...

I'm exactly the same but I find myself hoping WFH does become the new norm, because I relish the idea of working in a relatively empty and/or small office.

That’s on you. Seasoned WFH people will tell you that when you clock off you clock off. Tomorrow is another day. You owe it yourself and others to enforce your own boundaries.

I like it. The pilot sits at home using the joystick to control the jet. Or many at once. In the end, that is, what the military already does. And when he has to go to lunch, he just lets the jet fly idle in circles.

Or hands over to someone else. Not such a crazy idea.

Another point in favor of remote work is trans people feel safe WFH . https://genevievefiles.blogspot.com/2019/06/remote-work.html

Germany better fixes their insane taxation policy on home office matters. It was improved a bit a few years back but it's still a mess.

A few years ago you needed to have a separate room (with a door!) without any personal items in it to be considered a home office for tax reasons. Even a second chair was reason enough to make your tax report invalid (or fraud, depending on the policy of the local tax office).

Nowadays it's gotten a bit better as a corner of the room can be considered an office but there are still size restrictions and the computer can only be used exclusively for work. It's still a mess that you have to fight your communal tax office for and in the end comes down to the fact that the person responsible to check your report has to believe you and it's way to easy for them to say no.

> you needed to have a separate room (with a door!) without any personal items in it to be considered a home office ... and the computer can only be used exclusively for work.

I agree that that's how it should be, by default. See that other comment about mental context switches.

Companies could provide specialized laptops for work.

It would help with privacy, focus and sensitive data being overseen by kids/spouses/guests, until you can assure your employer that you can take care of that on your own.

It's penalizing low income employees and only benefiting the rich. People without the money to buy a house or large apartment will have to pay more. Even if you were to have an extra room for work, what if you want a child? Losing tax benefits is an extra cost you have to burden.

It's expensive to be poor, as always.

Ah, didn't see it from that angle. Of course then there should be exceptions for people who can't afford dedicated offices.

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