Objectives: The increasing dissemination of information and communication technologies had already contributed to an increase in working from home before the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, only a comparatively small proportion of employees in Germany have a teleworking agreement. This article examines how the extent and scope of contractually agreed teleworking differs among men and women in Germany. We further consider the importance of different life situation in this context and whether there are any gender-specific preferences.

Methods: The gender-specific prevalence of teleworking as well as the wish to do so and any possible obstacles are examined in more detail using data from the BAuA Working Time Survey. The BAuA Working Time Survey has been carried out every two years since 2015 and is a panel survey that initially comprised more than 20,000 employees. For the descriptive analyses, dependent employees up to the age of 65 were taken into account (2015: n = 18,119; 2017: n = 8767; 2019: n = 8622).

Results: The share of employees with contractually agreed teleworking has increased since 2015. Whilst a larger share of men had a teleworking agreement in 2015, the proportions of men and women have equalized in 2019 (17 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women). The proportion of employees with a teleworking agreement has increased across all life situations. The largest increase can be found among women with children under six years of age. The preference for teleworking has also increased among both men and women.

Conclusions: Teleworking agreements are found increasingly equally distributed between men and women. Younger cohorts and mothers with young children benefit particularly from the expansion of teleworking arrangements. Thus, teleworking appears to be popular for reconciling family and work.