VDMA
Mechanical engineers against being forced to work from home
The mechanical engineering association VDMA rejects a legal obligation to work from home during the pandemic. Mechanical engineering companies are ensuring that employees whose jobs are not directly linked to production are able to work remotely.
"Even in times of coronavirus, our companies must fulfill their social responsibility and maintain production," argued VDMA Managing Director Thilo Brodtmann on Monday. A legal obligation to work from home with fines would therefore be "absurd" in his view. The work organization of each individual company is different and cannot be regulated from the outside by official decree.
During the extended lockdown, the debate about the responsibility of the economy in the fight against the coronavirus has gained momentum. Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt had called for a greater focus on the economy in the fight against the pandemic in view of the persistently high number of infections and the emergence of a virus mutation. "Millions of employees are at risk of infection every day because protective measures in companies are not sufficient, compulsory attendance is demanded without necessity or risks from traveling on public transport are not taken into account," Göring-Eckardt told the "Tagesspiegel" newspaper.
According to Oliver Stettes from the Institute of the German Economy (IW), which is close to employers, a mandatory home office would be "a serious intervention in operational planning for which there is no basis". In addition, it is not possible or even sensible to work from home permanently everywhere.
The VDMA referred to a survey conducted during the first coronavirus wave in May 2020, when 71% of mechanical engineering companies stated that they would offer working from home wherever possible. 67.5% of VDMA members wanted to enable employees to work remotely at least some of the time even after the coronavirus pandemic.
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