Otto Group lets offices cool down to 15 degrees and closes entire buildings in winter

The Hamburg Otto Group wants to close large parts of its office buildings in winter to save energy. The company's own gas-fired combined heat and power plant in the Hamburg headquarters should even be shut down completely. The company announced this on Thursday.

The temperature in several office and work buildings is to be reduced to 15 or six degrees Celsius in winter. "Due to occupational health and safety reasons, no work activities are then allowed there for half a year," the company said.

At the parcel subsidiary Hermes, for example, three out of four central office buildings in Hamburg are to close. Office work is then concentrated on shared desks in the most energy-efficient building. At the Otto mail order company Witt, the lighting in the rooms is turned down. Electrical appliances such as refrigerators, coffee machines and dishwashers would be taken off the power grid. The group also wants to switch off the hot water and neon signs.

A particularly large number of office spaces at the group headquarters in Hamburg would be allowed to cool down during the winter holidays, i.e. also over Christmas and New Year. "Anyone who has to work during this time is asked to do so on the go - for example from home - if possible." However, the company explained that there were a sufficient number of heated workplaces available for employees for whom this was not possible.

HR manager Petra Scharner-Wolff emphasized in the announcement that new forms of work and the use of cloud software make the changeover easier - and bring "new creativity": If you move closer together in the offices, there are also new constellations of colleagues who now use a common area would.

Other companies are also taking action because of feared energy shortages. It is also about using alternative energy sources. Henkel has announced, for example, that it will once again upgrade the coal boilers at its gas power plant in the main plant in Düsseldorf that were actually intended to be closed. The Hamburg-based Dax group Beiersdorf procured diesel generators at an early stage and sees itself prepared for possible power outages.

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