The national workplace policy only partially applies to telework, at times called telecommuting, even when a contractual agreement between employees and employer is required for these new forms of work. In Germany, there are different regulations regarding remote workplaces.

WFH has become part of everyday life for many employees, and it can be assumed that a growing proportion of weekly working hours will continue to be performed at home in the future. Hence, the proportion of employees WFH has more than doubled/almost tripled. The data vary modestly report that up to 26.5% of workers worked from home between March and April 2020. While only about 12% worked from home before the pandemic, this was possible for over 35% of Germans during the first lockdown in April 2020. More than half of all employees in Germany have potential access to a home office in principle, but this potential was barely realized before COVID-19. For example, many companies allowed their employees to work from home to reduce the risk of infection. However, COVID-19 has changed the role and conditions of home office work in Germany. In a European comparison, Germany lagged significantly behind other countries in regard to the possibility of WFH before the COVID-19 pandemic-less than one in two employers offered their employees the option of working from home. Consequently, many millions of employees were temporarily working from home (WFH). Globally, over 3.4 billion people were restricted to their homes as of March 2020. The coronavirus disease COVID-19, in addition to all the challenges and drastic consequences, also acts as a catalyst for new forms of work. The working world has been confronted with multiple challenges. Since March 2020, the increasing incidence of COVID-19 infections has led to numerous restrictions in all areas of public and private life. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed. The results provide starting points for interventions and indicate the need for legal regulations for WFH. The feeling of increased autonomy leads to positive effects on employees’ job satisfaction. Furthermore, it negatively influences job satisfaction.

The percentual weekly amount of WFH influences stress-related symptoms, i.e., a higher amount of weekly working time WFH, was associated with more stress-related symptoms. Using multiple regressions, it was found that the functionality of the technical equipment at home has positive effects on the health of employees (i.e., ability to work, stress-related symptoms) and job satisfaction. The study is based on data from a Germany-wide panel survey with employees from different industries ( n = 519). But under what circumstances is WFH beneficial and when does it increase harms to health? The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of specific characteristics of WFH for health (work ability, stress-related physical and psychological symptoms) and job satisfaction among German employees. Working from home (WFH) has become commonplace for many people worldwide. In addition to its catastrophic health effects, the COVID-19 pandemic also acts as a catalyst for new forms of work.

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