Lack of contact with colleagues and rising costs among the most negative factors of teleworking

The survey results show that the reduction in face-to-face contact with colleagues is for 78% of civil servants one of the downsides of telework

Civil servants point to the lack of contact with colleagues and the increase in expenses as the most negative aspects of telework and the reduction in travel time as the most positive, indicates a study carried out by the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP ).

Through interviews with the directors and workers of 29 entities of the direct and indirect central administration, the study “The adaptation of work organization models in the central public administration during the covid-19 pandemic: difficulties and opportunities”, which is presented today, it seeks not only to evaluate how the adaptation to the way of working imposed by the pandemic went, but also to identify strengths and weaknesses, potentialities and threats of teleworking.

The survey results show that the reduction in face-to-face contact with colleagues is for 78% of civil servants one of the downsides of telework.

But he is not the only one: 66% of respondents point to the increase in spending on Internet, energy, computers and other elements necessary to work at home, 63% the possibility of working longer hours without noticing, with 57% still considering it as downside is the danger of greater social isolation.

On the other hand, the majority (72%) considered the gain in time by avoiding commuting from home to work and home as one of the greatest advantages of teleworking, with 54% also pointing to the positive effect in reconciling work and family and 52% who see this work organization imposed by the pandemic as a contribution to structurally rethinking work organization models in Public Administration.

According to the study, among workers who were teleworking – and who reached 68 during the first general confinement, in 2020 – more than a third (37,02%) said that the employer did not provide them with any means or equipment to be able to carry out your teleworking activity.

To these are added 28,28% who admit that there was a partial availability of means, and 34,7% affirm that there was availability of the means and equipment necessary for teleworking.

"Among the entities studied, the workers of the directorates-general were the most penalized by the lack of distribution of technological means (about 49%)," says the study, noting that, "from the data collected, it is evident that without the means technologies provided by the teleworkers themselves, teleworking in the central Public Administration during the pandemic would have proved to be much more difficult to carry out”.

This study, which Lusa had access to, and which is currently presented in a 'webinar' with the participation of the Minister Modernization of the State and Public Administration Alexandra Leitão and the Secretary of State for Public Administration José Couto, received responses from 4.445 workers , in a universe of more than 42 thousand employees of 29 entities such as the Tax and Customs Authority, the Authority for Working Conditions, the Institute of Registries and Notaries, several general directorates and general secretariats of different ministries or the Tourism of Portugal.

Even though, until March 2020, just over 1% of these workers had had any experience of teleworking, the study indicates that almost all workers who had to work from home did not show any adjustment problems.

«The level of computer skills of the majority of workers did not prove to be an obstacle to the possibility of working in a telecommuting regime. Indeed, of the 29 entities surveyed, 21 stated that the workers' computer skills proved to be sufficient to be able to work remotely», points out the study.

The interviewed managers also did not report the existence of unequal challenges in adapting to teleworking from career to career, having indicated communication as the biggest challenge in teleworking, followed by the coordination of teams and the problem of equipment.

When asked about the place where, in the future, they could develop their teleworking work, the overwhelming majority of respondents (88%) "elects the home as the place of choice".

The majority (68,86%) is also of the opinion that telecommuting promotes the reconciliation of professional, family and personal life and only 16,69% think the other way around.

 



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