Home office is no longer imaginable without it, but personal conversation and creativity often fall by the wayside, he says. Many employees who have been working from home since the Corona crisis also underestimate what they mean to their colleagues in interpersonal terms and how important personal networks are. "And how much especially new and young employees depend on working with people instead of at monitors."

Höttges does not want to abolish the regulations, however. Of course, employees can continue to stay in their home office if they are working on something in peace," he emphasised. "But home office is also a privilege to a certain extent: a good 20,000 of our employees are out with the people every day. They don't have the chance of home office."

Despite already downsized spaces, there are no bottlenecks, he said.

Ten days ago, Höttges announced in a telephone conference that Telekom intends to give up 50 percent of its office space in the medium term. Bonn would also be affected by this. "We were oversized in the past because employees were also on site with customers."

"The two statements do not contradict each other," says Telekom spokesman Philipp Schindera. Despite already downsized areas, there are no bottlenecks, he says. The Telekom offices are far from being "overbooked": "Every person who comes to the office finds a place." There is still a lot of room. The spontaneous conversation in the coffee kitchen, the shouting across the desk, the social interaction with people, be it in the canteen or at a creative session - all this does not work at home.

Criticism from the national chairperson of the DPVkom trade union

Christina Dahlhaus, national chairwoman of the DPVkom trade union, criticised Höttges' statements: "This is a piece out of the madhouse." She said it was strange that Höttges was accusing employees of lacking vitality: "In the past two years, the company's productivity has increased significantly, while sick leave has decreased." Moreover, many teams at Telekom are not only organised nationwide, but even Europe-wide. Meetings usually have to take place online anyway. In the past two years, the company has closed several locations nationwide, so that employees now have to travel up to two and a half hours to get to work. "In Bonn, bridge renovations will be added in the coming years," says Dahlhaus. It is clear that employees prefer mobile working to being stuck in traffic jams.

Telekom should therefore also subsidise job tickets in future, as Deutsche Post does, demands Dahlhaus. Telekom has more than 210,000 employees worldwide. In 2016, the company was the first DAX-listed company to conclude a collective agreement on mobile working. It stipulates that the times that employees work on the move are regulated by team leaders and works councils.

Original text: Claudia Mahnke

Translation: Mareike Graepel