Covid-19 implications

Question

Hi ECON,

I have a few questions about the implications of Covid-19 on your work:

-Do you feel you are more or less productive right now? I can imagine there is way more need for coordination, but on the other hand maybe fewer unnecessary meetings? Does this lead to more or fewer working hours?

-How do you all personally keep up? I imagine doing a demanding job from home becomes stressful over time, if you don't have the balance through coffee chats, team dinners or just any informal communication?

-How long do you expect to remain in home office? There is no clear regulation on that and the government will likely advise to do home office where possible for a substentially long period.

-What is the effect of Covid-19 on EON's business? It seems the core businesses grid and retail are only marginally affected.

Answer 1

Hey Anonymous, thank you for your questions!

We are all curently facing extraordinary challenges organising our project work from home. Regarding our productivity I have no doubts we make use of our already rich experiences in digitized working methods the most efficient way. For me personally, I do not see any differences in working hours. Nevertheless, we can't wait to get back to our clients in person as soon as possible - of course nothing can replace personal meetings and those small random touch bases occuring in a "normal" surrounding.

Fortunately, our ECON team is equipped and trained very well regarding digital work and we are very used to keep in touch with each other via chats, skype, calls, virtual team meetings and so on. I do meet my colleagues frequently and often by chance, only in a different way.

How long we will stay in home office depends on our projects, our clients and our own choice. Nobody has to go back to office, but some may hit back to their project desks as soon as possible. Our headquarter in Essen, for example, is ready for a limited return to office, already. We are gaining much experience about our ways of working at the moment and for sure take lots of lessons learned with us. When we will "return to normality" and how that might look like is not a question for the next weeks.

In Corona crisis, E.ON is facing challenges like every single other company in the world. It is now up to us to master the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie in every crisis, and of course ECON is at the forefront here to make this crisis a success story for E.ON.