Online survey: home office and higher education institutions

CHE Consult saw the opportunity offered by the pandemic to investigate, via an online survey, whether and how higher education institutions (HEI) enable their academic staff and their technical and administrative personnel to work from home or out of office. The study looks at different types of out of office work and focuses on home office in particular. As a result, we differentiate various procedures and regulations depending on the type and size of the higher education institution. The results of the study will be available to download on our website www.che-consult.de in the course of the summer.

The survey is aimed primarily at HR managers and pays particular attention to the procedures that were already in place before Corona. The subject matters dealt with in specific are,

•     how to deal with overtime, clocking or communication routines,
•     whether employment contracts already contain home office regulations,
•     how quickly members of the higher education institution may switch to home office and
•     whether they can determine their working times in home office flexibly and spontaneously.

The study also examines HEI-specific factors that can make it difficult or impossible to work from home and whether it is more personal or institutional reasons that lead to home office either not being offered by an institution or not being taken up by staff.

Against the backdrop of the corona pandemic, we also examine the challenges higher education institutions experience with regard to home office, to a greater or lesser extent and aim to ascertain which existing arrangements for home office the institutions might consider establishing on a permanent basis.

The study was launched on 4 May 2020 and will be open to participation until mid-June 2020. So far, around 70 relevant persons from all types of higher education institutions have filled out the online survey.

If you or your institution would like to participate or if you have further remarks, please contact elisa.himbert(at)che-consult.de