Occupational mobility should be organised in a healthy way. Results of the BMBF joint project prentimo.
Whether in a café, on the train or on the beach: many people use their lunch break, on the way home or even on holiday to work on their laptop or smartphone. Companies are also increasingly focussing on mobile working. Employees are travelling to trade fairs, meetings and clients. Is mobile working a blessing in disguise in the age of digitalisation and Work 4.0?
"Mobile working does indeed bring many benefits," summarises Thomas Breisig, Professor of Economics at the Department of Business, Economics and Law, "but we need to ensure that work-related mobility is healthy so that it does not become a curse. Physical and psychological risks must be recognised in order to minimise the stresses and strains on employees." The joint project "Prevention-oriented design of mobile work" (prentimo), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), has been dedicated to precisely this topic over the past three years. Under the leadership of the University of Oldenburg, business economists, social scientists and occupational psychologists have interviewed the employees of three companies - including the Oldenburg-based EWE subsidiary BTC - in order to record the work situation and, in cooperation with the management, to design it in a way that promotes health.
Mobile working brings autonomy - especially for men
The mobile employees agreed on one point in particular: mobile working is a great benefit for them. "The personal responsibility, the direct interaction with customers, working on a problem-specific basis, being a kind of 'carer' - employees see this as a great added value. Nobody wants to give up this high degree of autonomy again," says Breisig. In short: once you've worked remotely, you don't want to go back to a stationary position in the company.
But there are also exceptions: While women are just as happy to work remotely as their colleagues at the beginning of their careers, working in different locations is no longer an option for them as soon as they have children. Constant travelling, late and sometimes open-ended working hours, which can lead to extra work and unpredictability, are difficult to reconcile with children and family. "Women give up their mobility with their first child, while men usually maintain their mobility with a partner who has a permanent job," explains Breisig. As a result, there were only a few women with children among the prentimo study participants.
Stress caused by travelling and constant availability
Basically, travelling takes up a lot of time, both at work and at home. The boundaries between academic appointments and private life are blurring. "This can lead to work-life balance conflicts," warns Breisig. The mere fact of having to pack your bags on Sunday evening, prepare for a customer meeting on Monday morning and start your journey at 4 a.m. can put a lot of strain on a mobile worker. Regular "overnighters" are particularly affected: a software programmer, for example, has to travel to a customer for several days. From the employer's point of view, the employee's free time begins as soon as they are no longer at the customer's premises. "The employee, on the other hand, does not necessarily perceive this time away from home as quality time," says Breisig.
Many mobile workers use this free time to work. They answer emails, work on their laptops or make phone calls - often without it being counted as working time. And when they return to their fixed workplace after three days, they are also confronted with the situation that new enquiries and tasks have piled up during their absence. "This means that mobility creates additional high levels of stress," summarises Breisig. These include constant availability. It is not that the employer wants to be able to reach their employees around the clock, but rather that they themselves demand this in order to ensure the success of orders and projects - in case of doubt at the expense of their own health.
Rules for mobile working - results for the public
"In prentimo, we tried to work out rules for accessibility and smart travel planning with the study participants," explains Breisig. There can be no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, accessibility regulations must be developed in a participatory process with the employees, based on the respective company situation. Personal responsibility for organising working hours plays a major role in this context. "Mobile work is so multifaceted that standard solutions don't work," Breisig points out. It's about understanding mobile work on a case-by-case basis: "The motto is: understand, don't copy."
Even though prentimo is almost complete, the Oldenburg team is continuing seamlessly: "We have acquired a project that follows on from prentimo," says Breisig. In "Future discourses mobile - digital", the results obtained from the joint project are to be presented to a broad public. Six events are planned for the autumn and spring. "We are focussing on various topics such as work-life balance and the management of mobile workers," explains Breisig, "but also on the potential of mobile work to reduce emissions and thus contribute to climate protection."