Supervisors info:
Δρ. Ε. Λέκκας, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας και Γεωπεριβάλλοντος, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών (ΕΚΠΑ)
Δρ. Ι. Ψυχάρης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικής και Περιφερειακής Ανάπτυξης, Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο Κοινωνικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών
Δρ. B. Αυδίκος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Tμήμα Οικονομικής και Περιφερειακής Ανάπτυξης, Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο Κοινωνικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών
Δρ. Φ. Σπέη, Δρ. Ψυχολογίας της Υγείας, Cardiff Metropolitan University της Βρετανίας
Summary:
The present paper aims, primarily, at examining teleworking at a conceptual level and then at a social-labor level regarding the operation of services of the A’ degree Local Authorities, focusing on the City of Athens. In particular, we will focus on the City of Athens and its ability to adopt the status of teleworking, being the headquarters of the Central Sector of Attica, one of the oldest municipalities of modern Greece, the most populous and, consequently, the municipality with the most increased service needs of its citizens.
Under the assumption that technology has invaded in all its forms in our daily life and in various human activities, related to our personal and professional life, innovations are constantly being created so as to meet the demands that arise as a result of modern society and modern lifestyle. Teleworking itself is also an innovation, inextricably linked and dependent on the development of IT technologies because it reflects the trend for work flexibility and the transfer from one era to the next, contributing in this way to the creation and foundation of new jobs in border areas and areas that are not favored due to their distance from urban centers and, consequently, enhancing the increase of investments at the level of regional development. Teleworking has its roots, but not its full fruition, in the early days of technology in the 1970s, with the interconnection of satellite offices with centralized infrastructures. Then initially, it demonstrated a massive and progressively ongoing reduction in cost for the employers and an increase in productivity for employees, paving the way for decentralization, as it moved the work at home, and had a positive effect on the implementation of environmental goals, mainly on the reduction of air pollutants. Ever since the early 1980s, employees have been able to connect to the central unit of the company from home, using personal computers.
The issue is that from a simple observation over the decades and in the normal course of things, to extremely extraordinary circumstances, such as the sudden arrival of the COVID 19 pandemic in our country, and with little provision in terms of legislation, telecommuting was adopted suddenly and en masse, making it equally effective or not and perhaps more effective to handle relations between municipalities and the citizens and in which municipal services remote employment was possible, given that the nature of the provision may not allow in-person provision.
It is, therefore, being investigated how teleworking, under the suspension of business and state agencies, has been a cornerstone and the only solution for the possible re-operation of Local Government Organizations and how it has subsequently affected the way we work and has facilitated the previous conditions in relation to the working employment. We will take into account the complexity of public affairs, in which compared to the private sector and more broadly to the European area, telework did not have to step on favorable ground. The profile of the teleworker is presented in detail, including the skills he must possess, the observance of the working conditions stipulated in the contracts, as well as the necessary technological equipment, as an inevitable means to carry out the teleworking process.
The present paper will be completed with the conclusions that will be reached through the writing of the paper and some ideas and proposals will be formulated, judging in conclusion if the infrastructure of our country is at a satisfactory and certainly not at a prohibitive level for teleworking, as well as if employees consider it as efficient as the form of remote work.
Keywords:
Teleworking, Labor Law, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Local Authorities, Municipality, City of Athens, Human Resources Management (HRM), Public Administration
