Saving is the order of the day! Not only is the economic situation causing energy prices to rise again, but energy is also becoming more expensive in some cases as a result of the transformation to a CO2-neutral economy. Subsidies that have kept energy prices stable are also expiring. Many companies want to save energy to cover costs. This makes working from home once again attractive to deal with the energy crisis!
Key facts
- Due to the Ukraine crisis, expiring subsidies to stabilize electricity prices & the transformation to climate neutrality, electricity & gas will remain expensive.
- Not only the population but also companies must save energy.
- One idea: Send employees back to the home office to save energy to heat the offices.
- This can save up to 5% of German energy consumption. In addition, this measure reduces emissions and energy consumption for public transport.
- Companies must be efficient here in order to save energy. With hybrid work, employees can continue to come to the office & parts of the office space can be shut down.
Saving energy: Prices for companies & households are rising
It is not only climate change that is calling on consumers and companies to rethink and save energy, but also the ongoing crisis over fossil fuels in connection with the Ukraine conflict. Subsidies were set up to keep prices stable for a long period of time. These expire in 2024, which means that many companies are once again considering how they can save energy.
Although an industrial electricity price has been approved, office space in large cities in particular still offers enormous savings potential.
Companies should also save energy
After getting through last winter well, the end of subsidies brings with it a certain degree of uncertainty. After all, companies must be competitive and electricity prices in Germany are among the highest in Europe. Many companies are once again drawing on last year's plans to save energy.
This is because the potential for savings is particularly high in offices. Many offices or entire complexes consist of large rooms that are not heated in a particularly energy-efficient way. In order to reduce consumption, the energy crisis is continuing to work from home. With hybrid work Is that quite easy to do. Because when employees increasingly work at home, areas can be painted down and only provisionally heated or supplied with energy.
The idea is to completely close offices in some cases and heat them to a minimum temperature in order to reduce energy consumption. According to an estimate, around 5% of German energy consumption can therefore be saved. that hybrid working model offers enormous savings potential here.
Energy crisis & home office: Does the concept make any difference?
Closing entire offices can make sense. Open-plan offices or entire complexes in particular are either not properly insulated or have a very high energy consumption to heat the huge areas. Compared to their area, electricity consumption is much higher here than in private households.kn
However, the new discussion about the energy crisis and the use of home office goes beyond that: If employees were to work more at home again, this would in turn have an impact on traffic. Fewer commuters not only save emissions, but also cut down parts of public transport, especially in metropolitan areas. This in turn would save additional resources. This could save just under 3.7 million tons of greenhouse gases.
Criticism of the concept
Some of the discussion raises critical questions. On the one hand, this measure reminds many workers of the start of the corona pandemic and the isolation of work colleagues for months. As a result, the will to permanently return to working from home despite the great success of the hybrid working model is not necessarily great.
On the other hand, there is concern that the additional energy costs that arise when working from home will be passed on to employees. After all, there are costs for electricity, gas and water even when working from home.
Are employers allowed to send employees to work from home to save energy?
In principle, employees do not have to make their private living spaces available for work. Although there was an obligation to work from home during the pandemic, this only required companies to offer their employees the opportunity to work at home. The duty was therefore very one-sided. However, there was no obligation to accept this offer.
Since the home office requirement has expired and has not yet been extended, a new legislative proposal would have to be created. This should be limited in time and guarantee that no coercion from employers may arise.
Compromise: Overcoming the energy crisis with home office & hybrid work
In order to relieve companies and save energy permanently, hybrid working can be used as a compromise. Employees can continue to use office space (although to a limited extent) and companies can Reduce office costsby shutting down specific floors or buildings as needed.
Will hybrid work with Shared desks introduced, workplaces can be reduced and areas can be reduced. In this way, one part of the workforce could continue to work in the office, the other in the home office. Regular rotation can create a flexible interchangeable model despite a reduced area.
Another option is to introduce fixed attendance days on which office space is heated and employees back to the office come. The rest of the week, the office is then heated only partially or not at all.
Using Seatti to introduce hybrid work in companies
A hybrid model can be the first step towards offering home office and on-site work at the same time during the energy crisis. This gives employees the necessary flexibility. This working model can be implemented particularly quickly with Seatti. The benefits:
- Quick integration: In just a few steps, Seatti can be added to your existing ecosystem in Microsoft 365 Embed & take over all existing users & usage rights through integration with Entra-ID.
- Book resources: With Seatti, you can workplaces, parking spaces and meeting rooms Book & plan your office day
- Analyze utilization: With the integrated data analysis Can you use the anonymized booking data to analyze the capacity of your offices & thus determine how your company can best save energy.
- Encourage collaboration: With our Meetup feature & the opportunity Team bookings , you promote cross-departmental collaboration within a team. In this way, you can still maintain innovation & collaboration despite limited office capacities.
