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Happy or cursed in the home office. Most employers have let the majority of employees work at home since the Corona crisis. Because it is well received by many employees, they want to continue the home office in some form after Corona.
But very few have set the conditions. With the home office becoming permanent, the question is who will pay for ergonomic chairs. Do employees have to accept that the electricity bill is higher? If you travel less, you are not allowed to deduct a total travel allowance on your next tax return. The question is whether the home office will become a negative game for employees.
Axa pays an annual home office fee of CHF 200
Insurance company Axa is the first company to provide clarity on how the head office will continue to operate in the future and what contributions employees can expect, as seen from VIEW. “We advise our employees to work an average of 40 to 60 percent of their workload in the office and the remaining days at home, in an external common room or on the move”, recommends Daniela Fischer (44), director of RR .HH. From Axa Switzerland. The smart work regulations will apply from January 2021; while the pandemic lasts, people will continue to work more from home.
“It is extremely beneficial to the culture of the team when you also meet,” explains Fischer. Therefore, teams can decide for themselves how they organize. With the new working model, Axa employees also receive an annual lump sum of CHF 200. It doesn’t matter what your level of employment is and how much you work from home.
Fischer justifies equal treatment with the fact that at Axa almost all activities of the 4,500 employees in the office, including apprentices, are suitable for the home office. The annual contribution can be used for ergonomic furnishing of your home office or for operating expenses.
Only a quarter of employees pay more than the minimum
In a completely different way, many Swiss employees who work from home do not know whether the employer will ever pay anything for necessary purchases. Let alone how much they could continue to work at home after Corona.
According to a survey by the Swiss Business Association (KV), more than 80 percent of companies made sure during the shutdown that employees at home had at least the basic infrastructure, such as laptops. But only 25 percent would have made a material or financial contribution to the cell phone, the Internet, the screen or the furniture, says KV Switzerland spokeswoman Emily Unser.
One of the exceptions to the home office flat rate is Novartis. In the pharmaceutical company, employees will be able to choose in the future where they work. According to Novartis spokesman Satoshi Sugimoto, employees receive a one-time payment of 680 francs to set up their home office.
For the most part, there are no contributions to the voluntary head office
Other companies like Siemens Switzerland pay nothing for home office costs if employees work at home at their own request, as Siemens spokesman Benno Estermann says. If a permanent home office was ordered, employees received 30 francs for one day a week and gradually more up to 150 francs for five days a week.
Typical is Swisscom, which has been offering home office for a long time and does not bear any home office costs such as electricity or rent, as confirmed by Swisscom spokeswoman Sabrina Hubacher.
At Swiss Post, the home office is already common practice for around 14,000 employees. But since they have a place in the office at any time, according to a Post spokeswoman, the prerequisites for participating in rent or other infrastructure costs are not met.
Some of the employer’s obligations for home office work are regulated in the Code of Obligations. The employer must provide the employees with the necessary equipment and supplies. If the employee uses her own equipment or material with the consent of the employer, the employer must be adequately compensated.
In addition, the employer must reimburse the expenses that are necessary due to the work. The employee must credit the amount of the expenses.
From the point of view of KV Switzerland, Employees Switzerland and other employee associations, employers must come to an agreement with employees about the expenses that are paid at the head office, that the requirements are very individual.
Because most employers only pay for the minimum infrastructure, the associations require that the minimum scope of such an agreement be stipulated by law. Claudia gnehm
