Family-Conscious Mobile Work

Silke Luinstra, an auditor for the "audit berufundfamilie" initiated by the Hertie Foundation, has made "compatibility" her central theme. It is important to her that everyone - both men and women - can balance work and family in a healthy way. Companies benefit from more motivated, engaged employees - and from tangible economic advantages, such as proven lower absenteeism and decreasing turnover. For famPlus, she explains the factors for how mobile working can be successfully made family-conscious.

It is already a reality: A laptop and smartphone suffice for many tasks. Projects are planned on the terrace, doctor's letters are written in the home office, and even complex engineering drawings are collaboratively created thanks to modern collaboration software, even if individual team members are sitting in a hotel or café.  Given this flexibility, work and family should be easier to balance. But does mobile working truly create better compatibility? 

If you ask parents what they need for compatibility, the flexible choice of working hours and location are at the top. But reality sometimes looks different, such as when freedom turns into the pressure to respond to an email sent by the boss at 9 p.m. 

The question is: How do we take advantage of mobile working without falling into its traps? 

The four most important tips for entrepreneurs and executives: 

1. Trust your employees with something, give them responsibility and the freedom to make decisions. 
2. Release work time and workplace wherever possible.
3. Delegate responsibility for agreements on presence and availability largely to the team. The rate of misuse is extremely low, while the benefits of such a responsible culture are immense. And most importantly: Pay attention to how you talk about work, time, and presence. If someone is asked after a home office day if they enjoyed their day off, or if someone looks at the clock when someone enters the office at 10 AM, something is wrong. 
4. Finally: Set rules, such as response times. Hardly anything needs to be done at 9 PM. Take the pressure off your team and respect family time.

Employees also contribute to the success of mobile work. The most important tips for them: 

Keep commitments regarding availability and results. Balance your own needs with operational concerns in a fair manner. Ensure childcare or the care of relatives is secured. Mobile work does not replace regular care.

The fact is: You can't work with a child on your lap. But most importantly: Set bold boundaries. Be a pioneer so that the culture in the company can continue to develop. For everyone involved, the integration of work and private life becomes significantly stronger through mobile work. For this to work, everyone must continue to develop, make arrangements, and remain in constant dialogue. When implemented correctly, mobile work makes a great contribution to time sovereignty and thus to a better work-family balance.