How healthy and safe hybrid work is depends heavily on how an organisation designs it. That is the conclusion of research by the Institut Arbeit und Wirtschaft (IAW, Institute for Labour and the Economy) at the University of Bremen, Germany, carried out together with the Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen (Bremen Chamber of Labour), as reported by the German trade platform Haufe Arbeitsschutz. The researchers compared two organisations in Bremen: a public authority and a private IT company, to examine how hybrid work can be designed to promote health. The study is titled ‘Wie lässt sich hybride Arbeit gesundheitsförderlich gestalten?’ (How can hybrid work be designed to promote health?).
What does the research show?
In both organisations, the researchers identify the same bottlenecks: greater flexibility in time and place increases the risk that work and private life blur together, while employees themselves have to organise much more. The lack of informal contact with colleagues also weighs heavily, as do new demands on managers and on mutual trust.
Yet the approach differs sharply. At the public authority, occupational health protection for home workers is systematically embedded: psychological and physical strain is included in the risk assessment (Gefährdungsbeurteilung), availability and protection against digital overload are set out in formal works agreements (Dienstvereinbarungen) approved by the staff council (Personalrat), and home workers receive a full ergonomic workstation. At the IT company, such a structure is largely absent: arrangements are made informally per team, employees often buy ergonomic furniture themselves because the internal ordering procedure is too cumbersome, and oversight of safety standards outside the office is barely present. Breaks and ergonomics there are mainly left to employees themselves and to agreements within agile teams, while colleagues who work from home permanently are asking for simpler ordering routes for workstation equipment.
What can employers do?
The researchers put forward three recommendations. First, they call for clear, jointly agreed rules on working hours and performance, so that individual responsibility and necessary oversight remain in balance; this point proved especially relevant at the IT company. Second, they recommend mandatory availability rules and consistently safeguarding breaks and recovery time, to prevent overwork and health-damaging self-exploitation. Finally, the researchers call for training for managers, so that they can guide employees in a health-conscious way both in the office and remotely, and so that responsibility for safe working does not fall entirely on the individual.
Context
This picture is consistent with European research. Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, concluded in November 2025, based on the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) 2024, that hybrid work can improve wellbeing and work-life balance but also carries risks: blurring boundaries between work and private life, longer working days, less structured breaks and less social interaction with colleagues. Eurofound therefore advises employers to set transparent rules, pay attention to ergonomics at home, and keep employees who work remotely a lot actively involved with their team. Eurofound also points to the risk of an increase in virtual meetings and advises organisations to choose a model that fits their own situation, with sufficient autonomy for employees over where and when they work.
Source: Arbeits- und Gesundheitsschutz in hybriden Arbeitsmodellen, 29 October 2026
Additional research: The hybrid workplace: Ensuring benefits for workers and organisations
