Going to the office more often soon, but working from home is here to stay

Employers with many office workers expect that they will also come to the office more if the work from home advice is withdrawn next week. But going back to the office all week isn’t going to happen anytime soon. This is evident from a tour of the NOS.

50/50

At ING almost all employees now work from home. “If the home working advice expires, we prefer hybrid working,” said a spokesperson for the bank. “The basic principle is that employees on average work a maximum of 50 percent in the office and 50 percent from home. But as long as the one and a half meters is in force, only 30 percent of our workplaces can be used.”

Rabobank, ABN Amro and Volksbank also say that it will be a mix of home and office. “The starting point is to work digitally as much as possible,” said a Rabobank spokesperson. “In addition, there is room to come to the office for things that you can do better physically, such as brainstorming, team building, etc.”

“All at the same time to the office, that will be difficult,” says an ABN Amro spokesperson. “We are now renovating our large office in Amsterdam Southeast, so there is not enough space for that. But working from home is going very well now, many people also like it.”

‘Young employee wants office experience’

“We are really looking forward to relaxation,” says Patrick van Oppen, director of the Amsterdam branch of law firm Loyens & Loeff. “The working from home rules really do feel like a limitation.” Employees of the office in the Zuidas now work from home on average about four days a week and one day at the office. “It will all be in good consultation later, but I think that in two weeks it will be around three days in the office,” says Van Oppen.

“Young people in particular feel the need to come to the office, they can also learn from working with more experienced colleagues. If you have just started with us and have only been to the office a few times after a year, it is a different experience. than the regular office experience.”

Not back to ‘before corona’

Insurer Achmea is now largely working from home. “Eventually we will work where we can do our work best,” said a spokesperson. “Concentration work and individual work at home, and to the office for collaboration, creation, reflection, coordination, making plans and meeting each other. We expect this to work out about 50/50 on average, but that will have to be shown in practice.”

A spokesperson for health insurer VGZ says that the company will not go back “to the situation before corona”. Working from home is also partly becoming the norm at VGZ, just like at the municipality of Amsterdam.

“Employees make agreements about this in consultation with their manager and colleagues. That depends on the type of work and personal preferences,” the municipality said.

Right to work from home?

Interviewed employers say that the choice for the office or at home will mainly be made in consultation. But what if the employer asks the employee against his will to come to the office after all?

“As an employee, you have no right to work from home that you can enforce,” says employment lawyer Hendarin Mouselli. “An employer has a right of instruction, so it may determine the location of the employee.”

So until the right to work from home may be enshrined in law in the future, an employee will have to resign if the boss asks him to come to the office, Mouselli thinks.

Cabinet vision working from home

Social Affairs Minister Van Gennip believes that the division between home and office is primarily an issue that employers’ and employees’ organizations and industry associations should discuss.

She said this morning that she can imagine it being “fifty-fifty” in the new situation. According to her, that is a “healthy balance”. The cabinet is also coming up with its own vision for the future of working from home.

In a traffic jam?

It remains to be seen whether going to the office more often also means more traffic jams or crammed into trains in the morning and evening rush hours. At Loyens & Loeff they have become more flexible when it comes to office hours.

“The automaticity of 09:00 at the office is less. People will say more often: I make the first two phone calls at home and then I go to the office a little later to avoid the crowds,” says Patrick van Oppen of the law firm.

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