The home office is becoming the norm in these countries

Dutch employees have had a legal framework for home working since 2001. — AFP Relaxnews

24 days. That’s the minimum amount of time that a German employee could soon be entitled to work remotely each year. In Germany, a bill is currently being prepared that may well introduce a new labour standard. While the country may be among the first to legislate telework, other countries have not waited for the global health crisis to entrench the rights of teleworkers.

The European Union has already encouraged its member states to increasingly secure the status of employees working from home or remotely. A historic agreement was in fact reached in 2002, signed by European social partners so that each country could have its own legislation on telework. Rather than a uniform text establishing the same teleworking conditions for a Dutch, Polish or Greek employee, it is a European legal framework that aims to ensure, for the citizens concerned, the same rights for employees working from home as those working in the office.