All information on this page is based on regulations applicable in Germany. Requirements in other countries may differ.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2024, 24.1% of all people in employment in Germany worked from home at least occasionally. For 13.1%, their home was even their main place of work. As a general term for working from home, the German word Homeoffice has become established. However, the terms telework and mobile working (in the home office) are far more precise.
Mobile Working
Mobile working is characterised by the fact that employees carry out their work from a location outside the employer’s premises. This can take place either at a location chosen by the employee themselves or at a fixed location agreed with the employer (e.g. a home office). Mobile working does not necessarily require the use of information technology. Source: Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs – BMAS.
Mobile working from home is therefore a form of work that enables employees to work temporarily in their private environment on behalf of their employer. In Germany, there are no specific legal requirements for the setup or equipment of a home workplace in this context, and the Workplace Ordinance (Arbeitsstättenverordnung, ArbStättV) does not apply to home workplaces used for mobile working. That said, working from home in the form of mobile working is not completely unregulated. Like any other work-related activity, it is subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (Arbeitsschutzgesetz, ArbSchG), which obliges employers to carry out risk assessments, determine protective measures, and provide instruction to employees. While the law does not prescribe how a home workplace for mobile working must be equipped, it does require that it must be conducive to the employee’s health.
Further information can be found in the DGUV publication Working from Home – Not Only in Times of the SARS-CoV‑2 Epidemic, available from the DGUV publications portal.
Telework
The term telework is used when the option of working from home becomes a regular, fully established workplace. Unlike mobile working from home, teleworkstations are subject to the Workplace Ordinance (Arbeitsstättenverordnung, ArbStättV).
Telework is characterised by:
- work performed at a permanently installed display screen workstation,
- a written agreement between employer and employee covering working hours and the duration of the arrangement, as well as the provision,
- installation of the necessary work equipment – including furniture – by the employer or a person commissioned by them.
Specifically, Section 2(7) of the Workplace Ordinance (ArbStättV) states:
Teleworkstations are permanently installed display screen workstations in the employee’s private home, for which the employer has agreed a weekly working time and the duration of the arrangement with the employee. A teleworkstation is only considered set up once the employer and employee have contractually agreed the conditions of telework and the necessary equipment for the teleworkstation – including furniture, work equipment, and communication facilities – has been provided and installed in the employee’s home by the employer or a person commissioned by them.
If a home office workstation differs from those at the company’s premises, Section 1(3) of the ArbStättV obliges the employer to carry out a risk assessment for the teleworkstation and to instruct the employee in how to use it. Both tasks may be carried out by a person appointed by the employer. As the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the Administrative Sector (VBG) emphasises in its guide Telework – Health, Design, Law, this responsibility may not be delegated to the user of the home office. To avoid conflicts with the constitutionally guaranteed inviolability of the home, the VBG therefore recommends regulating access rights to home workstations in a works agreement. Unlike for office workplaces, there is no legal obligation to update the risk assessment for teleworkstations on a regular basis.
The requirements for equipping teleworkstations are defined in Annex 6 of the ArbStättV and specified in the relevant Technical Rules (Arbeitsstättenregeln, ASR). In other words: teleworkstations must meet exactly the same requirements as office workplaces.
