While many employees are enjoying the freedom to work from home, businesses are struggling to restructure their organisations with workers not coming to the office. Jean Paul Olinger believes this only to be a temporary change, but does acknowledge what impact this could have over time.
"It is the head of the company's job to keep everyone together. Similar to the task of an Orchestra Director, it is important that people can physically see each other."
For now, however, teleworking is a suitable alternative, given that 17,000 people have to go into quarantine or isolation each week: "That is a massive number and has a serious impact on our economy. For businesses teleworking is surely an annoyance, but we encourage those sectors where the possibility arises to fall back on that solution," says Olinger.
Video extract in Luxembourgish:
"From an economic standpoint, the impact is double. First, you've got lost activities because employees cannot be physically present. Second, considerable expenses need to be made for the period that employees are on sick leave.
A right to teleworking enshrined into law is not a viable solution at this time, Olinger believes. But a general reform on where to work would make sense. Simultaneously, continuous teleworking could change the world of work in the long term. Olinger expects firms to become more decentralised:
"If a company is decentralised, that raises another question: whether teleworking must be completed from the Greater Region, or if employees can live even further away. Furthermore, contracts may change with this form of work, too."
For now, the current model seems most effective. Olinger: "Humans are social beings and companies living organisms, employees have to see each other regularly."
