Multi-local living employees in Stuttgart and Milan : an analysis of their employer support for the spatial-temporal organisation of their living arrangements

With work-related living in several places - also known asmulti-local living - on the rise due to flexible working andliving environments, employers are increasingly challengedto support multi-local living arrangements in order to re-cruit and retain qualified employees nationwide. This paperpresents the first results of an analysis conducted in the citiesof Stuttgart in Germany and Milan in Italy. With the help ofsemi-structured problem-oriented interviews with multi-localemployees in knowledge-based sectors, their requirementsandthebenefitstheycurrentlyreceivefrom theiremployersinsupport oftheirlivingarrangements areexamined.Theresultsshow, among other things, that in both cities certain types ofcompanies are more open to these living arrangements. How-ever, few employers were found to have official policies fordealing with multi-locality. Furthermore, it is shown that dif-ferent types of multi-local employees require different sup-port. The paper also discusses interactions between work-related multi-locality and spatial development.