Opportunities and risks of location-flexible working and recommendations for healthy work design

“Mobile working” denotes the performance of work tasks away from an organisation’s premises or the employee’s workplace using (mobile) information and communication technologies.

Whether they are on the train or in a hotel during a business trip or at their home desk - mobile working is a completely normal part of many employees’ lives today. Generally, the larger the proportion of information-based activities a job entails, the easier it is to implement flexibility options. 

In contrast to classic teleworking, mobile working does not fall under the Workplaces Ordinance (Arbeitsstättenverordnung, ArbStättV; cf. Section 2 (7)). Rather, the basis for mobile working is an understanding between the employer and the employee on the arrangements to be made. Organisations often have general written agreements covering the issue. Work done in travelling workplaces, for instance by individuals employed in passenger or freight transport, is to be distinguished from mobile working. Nor is working at changing locations counted as mobile working if it does not include information-based activities, as is the case for example with mobile care workers or employees in the craft trades.

Location-flexible working has become established as part of many employees routine. At the same time, diverse research approaches to the topic have emerged over the last few years. BAuA has invited experts to contribute their insights and combined research results from different sources. The conclusions reached at the final event held for this project have been summarised in cartoon-style graphic recordings. Find out more on the F 2555 project page.

Healthy design of mobile work

Organisations and employees bear responsibility for designing work safely in human-centred ways when jobs include mobile working as well. The articles linked to below consequently explore various aspects of the subject, explain different forms of mobile working, and present a range of design recommendations. In this respect, it has to be borne in mind that the individual aspects are sometimes closely connected and interdependent. Furthermore, the scope for design interventions differs between the individual fields. It is not possible to exert influence over the design of the workplace and the working environment at all locations. This means few recommendations can be made for such situations and the amount of time spent working in these settings should be limited.