Hybrid work has become everyday reality in most companies, its legal basis often has not. There is no statutory right to home office, and without a written agreement the essentials remain open: Who bears which costs? Which working hours apply? What happens to confidential documents on the kitchen table?
The cost question is the most frequent dispute. Under Art. 327a CO the employer must reimburse all expenses necessarily incurred by the work. The Federal Supreme Court affirmed this for the case where the employer provides no suitable workplace. Where employees work from home voluntarily although an office desk is available, a cost contribution can be excluded by contract. Exactly this distinction belongs in writing.
Second point: working and rest time rules apply unchanged in the home office. Maximum hours, breaks, the ban on night work without a permit, all remain applicable even if nobody is watching. The employer remains responsible and therefore needs reliable time recording and clear availability rules, otherwise flexibility creeps into permanent availability.
Third point: data protection and confidentiality. Business documents and screens must be protected even from family members, devices locked, connections secured. For particularly sensitive functions it should be settled which work may not be done at home at all.
Fourth point, often overlooked: working from abroad. Whoever regularly works from a holiday home abroad can trigger social security coverage, tax duties and in the worst case a permanent establishment of the employer. For EU and EFTA states the multilateral teleworking agreement allows, under conditions, up to 49.9 percent home office in the state of residence without a change of coverage, but only on application and not in all constellations.
The good news: all of this can be settled with a lean addendum to the employment contract, in an hour rather than in a lawsuit. Our free template covers scope, costs, availability, security and revocation. For special cases, notably cross-border ones, a short conversation is worthwhile.
