Germany: 5 euros more per day if you work from home

The serious health crisis that in this tormented 2020 has kept the entire planet in check has imposed a sudden change of habits even in the professional field. We have attached the decidedly more elegant label of smart working to what until some time ago we called teleworking or remote work, moving from the mass adoption of cloud-based solutions such as Meet, Zoom or Teams to stay connected with colleagues and customers without leaving our home. Everything perfect, a step forward in terms of innovation, an opportunity to be seized by looking with optimism at what someone has begun to call New Normality, a new normal. However, there remains a simple question to answer, but which we have hid under the carpet so far: who pays?

Smart working: 5 euros a day for workers

A question that many have already placed themselves, especially among those who have been operating in this way for some time, long before it was necessary due to COVID-19. Now that the phenomenon is no longer limited or an exception, now that even companies with a more traditional business model are beginning to see its potential (and the associated benefits, primarily economic ones), the discussion cannot be postponed again for long. In Germany we are already thinking about it, so much so that we formulate a first proposal: a bonus of 5 euros per day recognized to those who collaborate from their own homes.

The newspaper FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) reports it, citing an agreement that seems to have already been signed between SPD and CSU. The measure could soon be introduced with the approval of Angela Merkel, thus making the German government the first to move in this direction. They can and must follow the others, including Italy.

In Berlin, the term smart working is not used to describe working from home in relation to the measure discussed: home office is preferred. A distinction that is correct and acceptable, since only when the solutions adopted are truly smart can we speak of an intelligent and virtuous dynamic for both parties.

In any case, the terms for the disbursement of the contribution are yet to be determined. The proposed proposal provides that the bonus can be recognized for a maximum of 100 days a year (therefore not beyond the ceiling of the total 500 euros), while someone asks to raise the threshold up to 120 days.

C 'however, it is also the one who moves in exactly the opposite direction. Remaining in Germany, Deutsche Bank launched the idea of ​​taxing workers considering collaboration from home a privilege and not a burden, perhaps not considering the expenses related to, among other things, the connection as well as the purchase and use of the devices. in cases where the employer does not supply them.

Source: Corriere della Sera