Stuttgart’s digital revolution

More and more people are working from home and the German city is more than happy to accommodate them and act on their behalf

Over the course of the year, Stuttgart has made every possible attempt to make life easier in the city in terms of access to working from home. While around 250 teleworking positions were set up in the state capital of Baden-Württemberg at the beginning of the year, which allow working from home, the option of remote work with mobile devices was expanded to around 4,200 employees in the course of this year.

The expansion of the practice was already planned in the local government’s Digital MoveS digitization strategy, but it was able to be accelerated considerably thanks to the pandemic.

Moving fast with the times

In order to best determine how to further improve remote work conditions in the city, Stuttgart launched an online survey of employees and managers about their experiences during the Corona lockdown. This provided authorities with valuable insights into the problems citizens face and has helped them better understand the issues at hand.

On the one hand, respondents were extremely happy with the fact that they can strike a better work-life balance while staying at home during working hours. This has, however, impacted the communication between employees and managers, while others complained that their work has not been sufficiently digitized to allow for effective stay-at-home employment.

Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of citizens were happy with mobile work which prompted authorities to help further subsidize its expansion. At its meeting earlier this week, the Stuttgart City Council gave the green light that a further 4,000 laptops could be procured step by step by the end of 2022 and that future replacements will also be switched to mobile devices.

First Mayor Dr. Fabian Mayer stated that “The results of the online survey confirm that we are on the right track with the Digital MoveS digitization strategy. The employees have a great desire to work while mobile. In order to make this possible in the entire city administration, it is essential to have the appropriate hardware and software. We are currently driving this forward with the greatest vigor…The great interest in new forms of work is also a confirmation for me that the changes that will result from digitization also have significant advantages for the employees and that our already high standard for the compatibility of private life and work can be further expanded."