Alternierende Telearbeit

From ‘home work’ to ‘home office work’?

“…With these words, conservative governments and employee associations (such as the Christian Democratic Workers Association) in the early 1980s aimed to reorganise social and family policies while legitimising new labour market dynamics and thus praised the 'soft power of the family' and a 'new motherliness' , as critics remarked (Bahl-Benker, 1985a;Huber, 1987). 6 Euphorically, Hans-Ulrich Wegener, the leading Siemens manager who directed the company's pioneering experiments with 'IT-based home workstations' in 1982-83 (Wegener, 1983; Verein Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung und Praxis für Frauen, 1983:58;Jäckel & Rövekamp, 2001), in his 'vision of the future' even explicitly addressed these critics, claiming to raise the women's issue since 'the unity of home and workplace' would mean both 'rationalisation' and 'humanisation': 'as women can build up their own existence, not only offer their work to a company, and they can dispose of their work themselves, they become freer. This will certainly promote emancipation more than certain Sunday speeches' (Wegener, 1982:82−86).…”