Commenting on yesterday's decisions by the Chancellor with the heads of government of the federal states, Rainer Dulger, President of the Employers' Association, said:

Berlin, 20 January 2021: "Combating the pandemic and dealing with its economic, social and societal effects is at the top of the employers' agenda. Only if we succeed together in reducing contagions will we be successful.

Enabling people to work from home is important to us because it can help prevent the further spread of the pandemic and reduce infection. That's why we offer employers the opportunity to work from home wherever possible. In recent months, German industry has created opportunities for home office and mobile working that our country has never seen before. The accusation that business is not doing its part in combating the pandemic is false. Individual sectors of the economy - especially the retail trade, hotels and restaurants - are effectively in total lockdown - with all the consequences for economic livelihoods and employees. We as social partners - together with the President of the Federal Republic - appealed last week to do more wherever more can be done. In short, we employers have delivered.

The public sector in particular is now being called upon to develop a culture of mobile working in the same way as the private sector. Therefore, home office bureaucracy will have to lead to adjustments, especially in the public sector. There are recognizably large deficits. From the federal government to municipal administrations, from public broadcasters to parliaments. Often, there still seems to be room for improvement, even in the digitalization of public services.

However, we also see deficits in the protection of particularly vulnerable groups, the implementation and communication of the vaccination strategy, the further development of the Corona app and the digitalisation of health administration. If we all want to come out of this crisis well, these points belong on the agenda as soon as possible."