Connection to the Survey on the Future of Work at Freie Universität Berlin
In addition to the valuable information, which forms a very good basis for how work will be organized in coming years, one result has already been transferred directly to the Flex Employment Agreement: “60 percent remote work.”
Contrary to what the Staff Council: Entire Freie Universität (GPR) claims, the university management agreed to the expansion to 60 percent remote work on the basis of the survey results. There was no clear demand from the Staff Council: Entire Freie Universität due to a lack of concrete and substantive negotiations on the Flex Employment Agreement.
In 2020, the Executive Board of Freie Universität Berlin decided to enter into negotiations with employee representatives seeking to make working hours more flexible. One reason was that the amount and location/distribution of working hours have become key factors in the attractiveness of employers. Such issues are becoming increasingly important in the light of debates about work-life balance (e.g., childcare and looking after family members), demographic developments, and also in the wake of the pandemic, digitalization, and climate change.
To date, the university management has not been able to engage in any noteworthy discussions with employee representatives regarding the flexibilization of working hours. Ideas or suggestions about potential employee needs have only been put forward by the management. A survey was therefore conducted in summer 2023 to determine what kind of changes employees at Freie Universität Berlin would specifically like to see in their everyday work. It also addressed their needs and concerns if such changes were to be implemented. Making working hours and their place of work more flexible was a key issue. The results of the survey provide a basis for the university management to begin new talks with employee representatives about making working hours more flexible. They are also seeking to reach an agreement on how to adapt the old employment agreements or draw up new employment agreements on working hours and place of work.