Radio România Internațional

Tag: teleworking

  • New restrictions looming in Romania

    New restrictions looming in Romania

    The Romanian authorities will impose new restrictions as of Monday, November 9, in an attempt to limit the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic, given the alarming surge in the number of new cases in Romania, just like in other European states. Therefore, the protective mask will be compulsory across Romania for everyone over the age of 5, in all open or enclosed public spaces. Public institutions as well as state-owned and private companies have to organize their activity in the teleworking or work-from-home system with a view to avoiding crowding in the means of transport.



    Where possible, the working schedule will be adapted so as to maintain a distance of at least 2 hours between employees. Also, in all localities, teaching activities that involve the physical presence of pre-school and school pupils in the classroom will move online. People will be forbidden to leave their houses between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. except for those who go to work or have medical emergencies, who take care of children or assist old people or people with disabilities, or who need to organize funerals in their family. Also banned are the meetings usually held for various holidays or anniversaries and the parties in open and enclosed areas.



    Activity of markets or fairs in enclosed spaces is also suspended. Still operating will be the open-air public agrifood markets, with the obligation to observe the norms of health protection. Traders are allowed to operate between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. except for pharmacies, gas stations and catering companies.



    The PM Ludovic Orban has called on the authorities to strictly apply the announced measures: “I’m calling on all ministers and institution leaders to act firmly and commit to implementing these measures, because it is critical for institutions to get mobilized and set an example.”



    The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has in turn explained to the population why these measures have been taken: “We are certainly willing to control the spread of the pandemic while trying to give doctors the chance to treat serious cases in hospitals. We also want economic activities to continue, that is why we are taking measures for the people to be protected and for the economy to function. We also want the Romanian citizens to carry on with their normal lives, but we are not currently experiencing normal conditions, we are in the middle of a pandemic and need to be very aware of that.”



    The opposition Social Democratic Party has called for the application of the European model in education, that is safe and open schools. (tr. L. Simion)

  • Heimarbeit immer beliebter

    Heimarbeit immer beliebter

    Die Beratungsfirma HPDI (Human Performance Development International) hat die Teilnehmer an ihren Online-Fortbildungen befragt und herausgefunden, dass in grö‎ßeren Unternehmen die Arbeit im Verhältnis von 60% im Büro und 40% zuhause stattfinden wird — zumindest im nächsten halben Jahr. Nicht alle sind zufrieden: 36% der Befragten klagten über eine mangelhafte Empathie als grö‎ßtes Minus, 28% beschwerten sich über eine schlechte Informationsübermittlung, weitere 23% über längere Reaktionszeiten. Über den Daumen gepeilt kann man aber behaupten, dass die Heimarbeit beliebt ist, stellte Petru Păcuraru, Geschäftsführer der Personalfirma HPDI, fest:



    Wir hatten eigentlich erwartet, dass nach der Quarantäne die Menschen es kaum erwarten, auszubrechen, weil sie es satt haben, von zuhause zu arbeiten. Aber nein, die Leute wollen ein Mixtum Compositum an Büro- und Heimarbeit, wobei das Homeoffice noch beliebter ist, als wir es erwartet haben.“




    Noch überraschender war jedoch, dass die Arbeitgeber von der Fernarbeit begeistert waren. Ihnen ist aufgefallen, dass die Arbeitnehmer noch produktiver sind — au‎ßerdem sind Einsparungen bei Transport-, Miets- und anderen Betriebskosten möglich, erläutert Petru Păcuraru:



    Wenn wir an den Verkehr denken, vor allem in Bukarest und der Umgebung, wo Menschen einen guten Teil ihrer Zeit allein dafür aufbrachten, ins Büro und wieder nach Hause zu kommen, dann reden wir im Schnitt von zwei eingesparten Stunden täglich. Diese Zeit gehört wieder dem Arbeitnehmer. Und auch für den Arbeitgeber ist alles besser, als dass sein Mitarbeiter Zeit im Stau vergeudet. Wenn der Angestellte sich in diesen zwei Stunden ausruht, profitiert auch die Firma. Und die Leute konnten nach der ersten epidemiebedingten Panikwelle das genie‎ßen, was sie haben — ihre Wohnung, die Zeit mit ihrer Familie, mit ihren Haustieren: Kurz gesagt, sie konnten die Früchte ihrer Arbeit genie‎ßen. Und weil trotz Prognosen die Effizienz nicht nachgelassen hat, war es ein Gewinn für alle.“




    Der Personaler Petru Păcuraru wei‎ß, dass das eine einzigartige Situation ist. Er macht sich auch Gedanken um die Zukunft:



    Ich kann über 2020 nur sagen, dass es voll im Schatten von Pandemie und Teleworking steht. Natürlich ist alles branchenabhängig, aber tendenziell werden Firmen wohl versuchen, irgendwann zu vorpandemischen Zuständen zu finden. Die Telearbeit werden wir nicht mehr los, aber ihre Bedeutung wird abnehmen, denke ich. Nicht weil es die Arbeitnehmer so wollen, sondern weil die Firmen aus Gründen der Kontrolle darauf drängen werden. Wir werden auf längere Sicht wahrscheinlich etwa 80% im Büro arbeiten und 20% von zuhause. Heute ist alles anders. Wir glaubten, dass die meisten Kunden nach der ersten Lockerung am 15. Mai ins die Büros strömen werden. Es war nicht der Fall, die meisten rechnen mit einem Comeback im September.“




    Eine wichtige Voraussetzung für eine gute Heimarbeit ist eine schnelle und belastbare Internetverbindung. Laut Berechnung des britischen Portals BroadbandDeals ist Bukarest am besten geeignet für ein Home Office — die italienische Hauptstadt Rom ist umgekehrt der schlechteste Standort, wobei für Bukarest nicht nur die hohe Internetgeschwindigkeit von durchschnittlich 52 MB/s eine gro‎ße Rolle spielt, sondern auch die guten Heimzustelldienste in der Gastronomie und die relativ geringen Lebenskosten. Als langjähriger Korrespondent der Nachrichtenagentur EFE in Bukarest und Mitarbeiter des Internetportals Balkan Insight kann der spanische Journalist Marcel Gascón Barberá das nur bestätigen:



    Bukarest ist eine Superstadt für Homeoffice oder Teleworking. Was die britischen Kollegen behaupten, kann ich nur bejahen — ich kann zwar keinen Vergleich mit einer anderen Stadt anstellen, aber aus meiner Erfahrung gibt es hier eine tolle Internetgeschwindigkeit bei belastbaren und preiswerten Verbindungen. Bars und Restaurants haben Superangebote, die sie mithilfe der Zustelldienste auch nach Hause liefern. Und das Leben ist billiger als in anderen Städten. Jeder, der hier arbeitet oder zumindest ins Internet geht, kann das Ranking nur bestätigen. Ich persönlich brauche keine sehr hohe Geschwindigkeit, aber Internet-Designer oder Leute, die mit Videodateien arbeiten, brauchen ein leistungsstärkeres Netz — und da ist die Internetqualität sehr wichtig. In Bukarest sind wir wirklich zufrieden.“




    Für den Journalisten Marcel Gascón Barberá ist Heimarbeit seit eh und je eine Konstante, Beschäftigte aus anderen Bereichen entdecken erst jetzt, wie das geht.



    Aufgrund der Pandemie erschlie‎ßt sich die Heimarbeit immer mehr Menschen. Vielleicht nicht für immer, aber die Leute haben gesehen, dass sie das, was sie im Büro erledigten, oft auch von zuhause leisten können — und vielleicht pendeln sie mit ihrem Pensum von nun an zwischen Büro und Wohnung, Auf jeden Fall geht das, vor allem hier in Bukarest“, findet der spanische Kollege.




    Und wenn aufgrund der geringeren Verkehrsdichte auch die Luftverschmutzung abnimmt, könnte sich die Lebensqualität noch weiter verbessern.

  • Working from home, a suitable option

    Working from home, a suitable option


    Lockdown restrictions generated by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced everybody to reduce their travels drastically. Consequently, an appreciable number of employers allowed their employees to do their job from home. Initially, the measure was viewed with skepticism and fear, mainly as regards work efficiency. However, more than two months on, specialist research on teleworking has yielded surprising results. A telling example of that is the survey carried by HPDI, Human Performance Development International. As of late, the firm has conducted a survey among participants in the online training sessions HPDI has organized, beginning the second half of March this year. One of the outcomes of the survey was the fact that henceforth, the big companies will do 60 % of their activity, or thereabouts, at the office, while 40% of the activity will be done from home, for at least six months.



    As for the drawbacks, 36% of respondents pointed to the lack of understanding regarding personal feelings as the main hindrance to doing their work from home. Then the flawed transmission of information was the most serious challenge for 28% of the employees who were included in the research, while 23% of respondents complained about the prolonged delay in response time, in the absence of direct interaction. All things considered, we can say that working from home “caught on”. Dwelling on that, here is HPDI general manager Petru Pacuraru.



    “After the lockdown we thought people would go berserk, exasperated by the difficult time they had working from home, but we found out that in fact, people wanted to create a combination, a mix, between working from home and doing their job at the office, with the work being done from home having an even greater proportion than we might have envisaged. And that was also the surprise we included in the concluding remarks for our survey, whereby 40% of the working time will be spent at home, in stark contrast with the 100 % of the working time that was spent at the office. “



    Even more surprising was the employees preference for teleworking. What the employees saw for themselves was that, working from home, they were more efficient. Moreover, transport-related costs became smaller, as well as rent and maintenance-related costs for offices.



    Petru Pacuraru:



    “There is this issue of the traffic, especially if we have Bucharest as well as its outskirts in mind, where much of the time was spent travelling to and from office. There are two hours to be spent in the traffic, on average, hours an employee stands to gain if he does his work from home. Even employers stand to gain something out of it, since job-wise, for themselves, anything else is better than the time the employees waste when they are caught in the traffic. If employees can have a rest for the two hours they otherwise waste in traffic, that can be an advantage for employers as well. There is also another aspect to be taken into account when we consider teleworking, people can have the chance to make the most of what they have. Bar fear or the panic of the early days of the lockdown, they passed just like a waves ebb and flow, people began to make the most of what they had: their flats, their homes, their children, their pets, in fact they enjoyed the results of what they had worked for so far. And, against all odds, efficiency during teleworking in no way diminished, all parties involved stood to gain.”



    All that has been building up towards peoples wish to work from home, for two or three days a week. Could that be a forecast for the future? HDPI General Manager Petru Pacuraru attempts an answer.



    “To that effect, I can only speak about 2020, by all means the year when lockdown and working from home have had their strong bearing on everybodys activity. It all depends on the field of activity as well, but I think companies tend to gradually return to the situation they had before. The concept of teleworking, we will never lose it, yet in time, its relevance will fizzle out, and that not because of the employees but because of the employers. Out of the need for control, the work ratio will eventually stand at 80% of it being done at the office and 20%, from home. But as we speak, things are totally different. After May 15, we thought a great part of our clients would return to the office, and here we are, quite a few of them has not returned to the offices. For their most part, they mull returning to the office in September. “



    The technological revolution is in full swing, digitalization at work progresses very fast, so a good Internet connection is vital, especially while working from home. Internet speed and accessibility have become fundamental criteria in certain fields of activity, according to a recent classification compiled by BroadbandDeals.co.uk. According to that online publication, Bucharest is the best-placed city for teleworking, while the city of Rome is worst-placed, to that end. Internet speed and accessibility, with an average of 52Mbps MEGABITS PER SECOND reported for Bucharest, has been one of the criteria in the aforementioned classification, while the quality of the food home delivery services and the cost of living have also been taken into account.



    Spanish journalist Marcel Gascon Barbera has for many years been the EFE Agency correspondent to Bucharest, also collaborating with Balkan Insight information site. Through his professional experience, the Spaniard has confirmed the validity of the aforementioned classification.



    Marcel Gascon Barbera:



    “Bucharest is the perfect city for doing the work from home, of for teleworking. As for the good points highlighted in the survey that has been compiled, I can confirm them. I cannot draw a comparison with other cities, but, from my own experience, I can say the Internet connection is excellent, it is also easily accessible, it is reliable and also cheap. Bars and restaurants, through the food home delivery companies, the services they provide are very good. Then theres the cost of living, which is lower than in other countries. For instance, I do not need a high-speed Internet connection. As far as Im concerned, the low cost is an advantage for me. But in the case of those who do Internet design and upload video files, the programs they use are more complicated than my programs, I only type and send my texts, whereas they need a strong and high-performance Internet. And thats what makes the difference between one city and another. And here, in Bucharest, we may consider ourselves lucky.”


    As a journalist, Marcel Ggascon Barbera has always worked from home, but from now on, he believes teleworking will become a more and more attractive option, while Bucharest perfectly ties in with that option.



    Marcel Gascon Barbera:



    “Now, once with the crisis sparked by the pandemic, a growing number of people is highly likely to start work from home. They may not do that on a permanent basis, but what I know is that, in this period of time, some of them discovered they can also do from home what they did before while working at the office. They might also continue to work from home, partially. At any rate, it is an opportunity. And Bucharest is an attractive city, to that end. “



    Who knows…once traffic congestion is reduced thanks to the option of working from home, it may very well be that Bucharest will also become a less polluted city.