Kommersant.ru | February 21, 2014
The Germans secured the right to be out of reach
Germany introduces the out of reach mode. More and more employed Germans refuse to handle their employer's problems outside the working hours. This movement has been called the right to be out of reach. At the same time employees are allowed to take work home. The time spent on the project is clocked on the schedule of working hours. Read more in Svetlana Belova's article.
Volkswagen, BMW, E.ON Energy Corporation and sportswear manufacturer Puma have already agreed to release their employees. These companies allow their employees to leave office in the middle of the day as some need to pick the kid at the kindergarten, and some have an appointment in the bank. However, they still have to do their work. But the bosses don’t care where: in the office, in a café over a glass of Château or at home on the couch with favorite TV series on. All these hours will be clocked in a special schedule of working hours. Overtime is not recommended, but the Germans are counting on the good faith of their colleagues. Anna Kartashova, Head of the Volkhonka Psychological Center believes that without supervision people will work in a slipshod manner.
"In fact, any normal person, when he is not being watched, tries to work less. And it is quite natural," said Kartashova.
In addition, German corporations agreed that bosses will not bother their subordinates outside working hours. In Volkswagen, for example, the function of receiving calls from the office phone and receiving emails automatically turns off half an hour after the end of the working day. Dmitry Akopov, CEO of the consulting company Jacobson Partners considers this controversial.
"After all, employees must be practically always available, because there may be some urgent issues. And it wouldn't probably be quite right not to have the right to call after six in the evening and it is not applicable to the majority of our companies," said Akopov.
The right to be out of reach does not apply to those who work in production shops. Switching off phones and work remotely is only allowed to financial, legal, administrative, management and PR staff. However, such preferences deprive employees of career growth, warned Natalya Golovanova, Head of the research center of Superjob.ru.
"According to the overwhelming 72% of employers, no matter how well employees work remotely, their chances to get a promotion are slim. The main reason is that such workers do not communicate in a team, little is known about them, judging by the comments of employers,” explained Golovanova.
However, more professionals worldwide refuse office work and take orders remotely. The largest army of freelancers is in America. According to the International Telework Association and Council, ITAC there are 16.5 million freelancers in USA. They have higher incomes. Minimum wage of a freelancer is $50,000 per year, while a similar office specialist earns only $30,000. It turns out that almost half of the money that could be paid to hired employees is used to pay for their workplaces. Releasing their staff for freelancing, managers could make them richer, said Arthur Shamilov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the recruitment company TopContact Executive Search.
"The workplace costs money, sometimes it is a leased dedicated space, including furniture, computers and so on. In fact, if they stay at home, the company will only reduce its costs. This is done in order to save office space, or save people time on the road or there are creative professions, where it doesn't make sense coming to the office," said Shamilov.
By the way, it is proved that the office is also bad for health. In Germany, for example, last year 75,000 people retired prematurely. About half of them because of mental illness related to stress at work.
Read more at: http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2414374.