Government needs to push for teleworking both as a measure for COVID-19 and the future – PN

The Nationalist Party yesterday urged the government to immediately push for more teleworking both in the public and private sector as a measure to fight against the coronavirus.

“We are appealing that the government should direct workers both in the public and private sector to work remotely immediately so as to reduce the number of people crowding together in the office and reduce the transmission of the virus,” said PN spokesperson for education and employment Clyde Puli.

During a virtual press conference held on Saturday morning, Puli explained that one of the Nationalist Party’s proposals is that remote working is immediately implemented as a measure to fight against COVID-19, and that such a measure can include a number of benefits to society.

“Apart from a health approach, with more people working from home, we will see our roads have fewer cars, therefore less pollution and cleaner air. We will have less people together in one area, so we will reduce the risk of transmission of COVID19.”

He said that the country has already experienced such benefits at the beginning of the pandemic back at March, when the country saw most workers from both sectors working from home. “We have seen the government itself admit that such a measure has benefitted the country and workplaces.”

Puli said that teleworking should not be seen as just a shortterm measure, but also be applied as a long-term one. “Through social dialogue and consultations, we should look into how more companies can take on teleworking on a long-term basis, as we are seeing in international companies that have changed their work regulations so as to continue remote working.”

He said that that the government should look into discussions with social partners to amend work regulations and conditions so that remote working will be more applicable for more companies and businesses.

“We are pushing for more remote working so that we do not end up in a national lockdown, which will affect our island greatly,” he said.

He said that the pandemic has brought about many challenges but also many opportunities, such as the trend of digitalisation, providing society with more incentives and resources to work from home.

PN MP Claudette Buttigieg also mentioned the benefits of teleworking, and insisted that not only women pushed to work from home when it was offered earlier in the pandemic. “With teleworking, families can enjoy a better home-work balance, and especially during a time like this when children are following lessons online at home, parents are able to be there to help them,” she said.