Return to the office: Mercedes, SAP and Amazon restrict home offices

A few days ago, Mercedes employees received the news that they should come to the office four days a week in the future. What would have been a common arrangement a few years ago is now problematic for many employees. Home office or mobile working on the go has become completely normal in many industries.

Some people benefit from not having to commute as often. Others work more efficiently at home than in an open-plan office. Or they can organize their family life better if they work at home and can turn on the washing machine during the break or pick up the children from daycare earlier.

Nationwide figures show how normal working from home has become in many jobs - according to the Federal Statistical Office, almost a quarter of employees in Germany occasionally work from home. 24 percent of them even work entirely at home and no longer go to the office at all.

Some have even moved to the countryside to work from there. It will be difficult for them if the company changes its rules now. And that seems to be happening more and more, even if the home office rate is stable overall. More and more well-known companies have announced that they will restrict mobile working. Not just Mercedes, but also SAP and Amazon.

Companies often want to use this to strengthen the office culture or ensure that team leaders can better manage their employees. Sometimes companies simply want to cut jobs. Stricter home office rules often lead to layoffs.