Bosses, employees ‘must adapt to pandemic workplace’

Employers and workers must be willing to adapt to the current work environment if businesses are to remain productive and well-run during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government’s top labour inspector said Wednesday as Government’s coronavirus messaging shifted to the state of the workplace.

Appearing at Wednesday’s live COVID-19 update along with Minister of Labour and Social Relations Colin Jordan, Chief Labour Officer Claudette Hope-Greenidge said the pandemic has caused many businesses to move many of their tasks to being performed from home. She said that although the situation may not be ideal for all, employers and employees need to support each other to make the change work.

The chief labour officer said: “Employers need to support employees in the move home, and employees also need to support employers in the move home. So in other words, there needs to be a greater degree of trust between the two parties – coming from the department’s point of view, and based on conversations we would have with both camps, an individual does not have to be in the workplace so that you can monitor [them]. If that is the sole purpose for having the person there, well then you may be spinning the proverbial top in mud.”

Hope-Greenidge acknowledged reports both locally and internationally of a rise in productivity in at-home work settings. She suggested the cause for the rise may however not be for favourable reasons.

She explained: “Productivity can be improving for two main reasons; it’s either persons are at home and are more comfortable for whatever reason and they are working harder, or they are being called on to work harder. So I just want persons to think about that. With the move home, we still need to think about work station setups, we still need to think about hours of work, we still need to think about the wellness of the employer and the employees as well.”

She also said that it was important for workers to maintain good health and exercise while they are at home.

But one of the surprising positives out of the COVID-19 outbreak, she declared, is that it has caused both managers and workers to have more meaningful consultation among themselves as they seek to navigate this new normal for work.

Hope-Greenidge said: “What we see as happening in the world of work landscape right now, is that in the case of industrial relations and also safety and health, COVID-19 has forced employers and employees to be engaged in a better form of consultation. There may always have been consultation, the quality is what was concerning, but in this circumstance, consultation has to be different. We sense that it’s not only different and better because of what the Employment Rights Act may require, but there is a better or greater level of stepping up to the plate, on both ends of the fence.” (SB)