COVID-19 ‘game-changer’ for workers

A management expert has warned workers not to expect a return to the traditional relationship between them and their employers as businesses reel from this period of economic distress.

Speaking on Friday at the Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business webinar on Labour Relations In the Caribbean, Brittany Brathwaite said the post-COVID-19 workplace will change dramatically for the more than 43,000 workers who lost their jobs and will be seeking re-employment.

“The number of unemployment claims submitted between March 1 and today is about 43,000 and that is about one-third of our workforce,” said Brathwaite. “The majority of them are full-time workers. There is a high possibility that the way in which employers will seek to re-engage people for their services will no longer take on a full-time [relationship].”

Brathwaite, a former labour management advisor with the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) told participants: “What we need to be prepared for in our labour relations are two critical things. From the employer standpoint, they will want to know how do you safely and legally engage people for their services outside full-time contracts? How is that done in the context of the legislation which in many cases our national insurance security safety net, unfortunately, does not cover people in the informal sector and those who are under contractors’ contracts?

“That is going to be a huge consideration for us going forward. We also have to look at the employee trade union standpoint and how do you start to collectively share issues for an increasingly dispersed workforce.”

Executive director of the BEC Sheena Mayers-Granville highlighted the level of uncertainty in the market caused by the pandemic, stressing that it had become problematic for workers and employers, both of whom were now in “survival mode”.

“We are operating in an environment where our legislation was not designed to contemplate. Most legislation makes no mention whatsoever of a pandemic or a public health crisis. The pandemic has pushed everyone into survival mode. So when we talk about labour relations and the legislation and regulating the relationship between management and employees, we are talking about regulating that relationship in uncertain times,” Mayers-Granville noted.

The BEC head explained that the declaration of a pandemic had also voided business continuity insurance policies for companies and this had added to the distress being experienced by employers.

She added: “For all employers in Barbados… there is no business continuity insurance. When we talked about disasters or catastrophes our mindset or focus was geared towards one-off events like an earthquake or hurricane, not something that would last for months on end.”

Citing other issues that have arisen since the pandemic, Mayers-Granville added: “When we look at employees, survival has been uppermost in their minds. When will I be able to work again?

“We are asking persons to work from home and in most instances, nurseries are closed but there is the concern about how do I deliver when I have everything going on within my home, a place that was not designed for an adult to work or a child to go to school online and still function normally.”