German Companies Ditch Paper at Alarming Rate, Survey Finds
A recent survey by the German IT industry association Bitkom has revealed a significant shift away from paper in German offices. According to the findings, nearly three-quarters of the country’s companies have reduced their paper usage by 72 percent, with 32 percent using significantly less paper than five years ago and 40 percent using a little less.
While the progress in digitizing business and administrative processes is slow, a notable trend is the decline in the use of file folders. Over half of the companies surveyed have fewer file folders in their offices than they did five years ago, with 20 percent using much less, 37 percent using a little less and 34 percent still having the same number. Only 4 percent of the companies have increased the number of file folders and a mere 1 percent have seen a significant increase.
The file folders are most commonly found in three departments: the human resources department, where almost all companies still use them (94 percent), the accounting and controlling department, where nine out of ten companies still use them (91 percent) and the executive or management level, where many companies still keep them in a cabinet (82 percent). They are less frequently found in the customer service and sales, logistics and production or manufacturing departments, with only 69, 65 and 30 percent of the companies, respectively, still using them.
The survey, conducted by Bitkom Research from the 10th to the 16th week of 2025, polled 602 companies with at least 20 employees in Germany.