CTUSAB: Remote work creating problems for employees

The island’s trade union umbrella body has called on authorities to address the challenges employees face working from home, including increased financial burdens, inequitable allocation of duties by their bosses and unreasonable expectations of employers.

While working remotely has become the norm for many Barbadians since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, General Secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) Dennis DePeiza, said public sector employees, in particular, have encountered numerous difficulties.

“Many have complained of the increased cost incurred in retrofitting their homes for the purpose of setting up work stations. There is the overarching concern of the lack of financial assistance or other support from Government, as the employer, to its employees who suffer this inconvenience,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Also, the increased charges in personal electricity and Internet bills add to the costs incurred by those workers who work from home.”

DePeiza said government workers are also directly impacted by the actions of some public sector managers “who stand to be accused of disproportionate allocation of work assignments, where a select few are given the opportunity to work within the office setting on a routine basis”.

Additionally, he said, some managers are in the habit of asking their subordinates to do work when they are off duty.

“Numerous complaints have been lodged against the actions of public sector managers, who take to making telephone calls to give instructions and/or the sending of emails for action to be taken; all outside of normal working hours,” DePeiza said.

CTUSAB also pointed out that where administrative and clerical staff are required to work from home, this results in delays in the operations of the departments and the delivery of service to the public.

“If the home working policy is to reflect improvements in its effectiveness, efficiency and productivity of workers, Government as the employer must pay more attention to the training of workers, and to providing the resources and tools that are required so as to enable and facilitate working from home,” the CTUSAB boss said.

“Equally, attention must be paid to addressing the work-life balance of those employees who are required to work remotely.”