Working from home still popular in Germany

When the coronavirus pandemic pushed everyone indoors in 2020, working from home became the norm for many in Germany. But over five years later so-called “Homeoffice” is still popular.

25 percent of all workers in Germany work from home

According to figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), many people in Germany continue to work from home regularly, despite the German government having lifted the last of its coronavirus restrictions in 2022.

24,4 percent of all employees in Germany worked from home on all of their working days in 2024, 29,8 percent spent at least half of their working days in “Homeoffice", and 45,8 percent spent “fewer than half of their working days” working from home.

In 2019, there were actually more people working from home on every one of their workdays than there were in 2024, 26,1 percent compared to 24,4 percent. However, the number of people working at least half of their week from home increased from 16,8 percent in 2019 to 29,8 percent in 2024. This increased the overall number of days worked in Homeoffice in Germany.

Destatis’ figures show that 2021 was the peak pandemic year for working from home in Germany. In 2021, 40,3 percent of the working population were working fully from home, and 28,9 percent were working at least half of the week from home.

Who works from home in Germany?

Working from home is more common among those who live a considerable distance from their workplace. 42,2 percent of employees who live 50 kilometres or more from their workplace work at home, compared to 20,1 percent who live between 10 and 25 kilometres away. Among employees who live 5 kilometres or fewer from their workplace, just 13,9 percent work from home.

Working from home is also most common among those aged between 35 and 44 years old, 29 percent of whom work from home. Employees aged between 15 and 24 years old are the least likely to work from home.

In comparison with other EU countries, employees in Germany work from home slightly more. Across the bloc, 23 percent of all employees aged 15 or over work at least partially from home. Working from home is most common in the Netherlands (52 percent work partially from home), Sweden (46 percent) and Luxembourg (43 percent). Just 3 percent of employees in Bulgaria and 4 percent of employees in Romania work from home.