#BTEditorial – Returning to the office, a task for workers

Fully reopening the Barbados economy while we in the Caribbean and most parts of the world are still battling the COVID-19 pandemic, was always going to be fraught with challenges.

The last four quarters for the Barbados economy have been characterised by a downward spiral in almost all the fundamentals. Most disabling has been the near collapse in activity in the tourism and hospitality sector.

Our heavy dependence on tourism for revenue, foreign exchange, and jobs has exposed our vulnerabilities to any adverse impacts on the sector.

Despite the immense challenges confronting the country, public sector workers, for the most, have remained sheltered from the effects of the pandemic. They have not been forced to endure pay cuts. The state, led by example, ensuring that most public sector jobs were maintained.

In the private sector, the situation has not been comparable. Pay cuts, job losses, reduced hours of work, and even business closures among the micro, small and medium sized enterprises, were commonplace events rather than anomalies.

But there is also a development arising from the pandemic that has been a feature of life for workers in the public and private sectors.

As fear grew about contracting the deadly viral illness and anxiety about COVID-19 spreading among employees, many corporate leaders took the decision to have most workers undertake their duties remotely from their homes.

That meant that many Barbadian consumers of goods and services who were reticent about conducting business online, were forced to do so, or endure long lines, often outdoors in the elements.

Remote work has been praised by employees and human resource professionals alike. Large local firms like Sagicor revealed, during the height of the pandemic, that they were able to swiftly transition much of their business activity to online platforms, with the bulk of its employees, operating from their homes.

Brittany Brathwaite, President of the Human Resources Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) told this publication in an interview in April, that employers and employees must get used to the new normal which has been spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brathwaite, who provides consultancy services to companies and sectors across the Caribbean in labour law and policy, and is a frequent commentator on labour issues, argued: “[The pandemic] has forced people who always thought that work could only be performed within four walls, to recognise that this is not true.

“The pandemic also forced a lot of organisations into the 21st Century where they needed to be, where measuring performance is based on output and not based on presence in the office.”

Interestingly, with infection rates trending downward in Barbados and in most countries, including the United States, due to a rigorous vaccination programme, employers are beginning to tell workers, it is time to return to the office on a full-time basis.

In the public sector here, most offices are returning to near full capacity, and the same is happening in the private sector.

Facial coverings, hand sanitizing and physical distancing are still required, however.

But it seems from anecdotal information, that not too many Barbadian workers are happy to return to the office. It seems working from home has been taxing on them, but they still prefer it to the four walls of the office environment.

Who can blame them? The risks posed by the disease have diminished but have not been eliminated. The high price of petrol is another highly prohibitive factor. And not having to commute in slow-moving, long lines of traffic to and from The City and other business centres such as Warrens and Wildey in the morning and the evening, are compelling reasons to work from home.

In a high-profile case that many are following closely in the United States, that involves global investment firm Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street company’s chief executive officer James Gorman told New York employees who were allowed to work from home, that they had until the end of August to return to the office full-time or face a cut in their salaries.

Gorman said that once the summer was over, most of the New York workers will be required to get off Zoom and start taking the subway into the office.

“By Labour Day [the first Monday in September], I’ll be very disappointed if people haven’t found their way into the office and then we’ll have a different kind of conversation,” he said, adding that workers could not expect to get their “New York salaries” if they continued to work remotely.

“If you want to get paid New York rates, you work in New York,” Gorman said. “None of this ‘I’m in Colorado . . . and getting paid like I’m sitting in New York City.’ Sorry. That doesn’t work.”

We are eager to see how this ultimatum ends. And just as relevant is the case of Barbados and whether workers will be given the option of working from home.

After all, having employees conduct business from home also provides major cost savings for companies on things like utilities, office equipment and office space rental.