Working from home, or from a sunnier location, became commonplace during the pandemic, and in many places it has still maintained its position, but efforts can also be observed to bring employees back to the office, writes LRT.
Kaunas City Municipality has tightened its approach to remote work, requiring employees to be able to come to the office within an hour if necessary. The new rule is intended to prevent working hours from being used for other activities.
Jurgita Kvedaravičienė, head of the human resources department of Kaunas Municipality, told LRT that the requirement to be able to come to work within an hour was introduced to ensure work continuity and smooth cooperation with other departments and the public. About half of the municipality’s 700 employees work remotely, usually two days a week. The new rules stipulate that an employee who wants to work remotely will have to submit a written application explaining their motivation for working remotely.
Meanwhile, remote work is still gaining ground in the private sector. At software development company Telesoftas, about two-thirds of its employees work from home, and the company has even reduced its office space. Šarūnas Putrius, CEO of Telesoftas–Helmes Group, said
he believes that working from home can increase productivity and improve results.
He added that about 30% of employees still come to the office, and the social side of cooperation is still relevant.
Human resources experts say that flexible work options are still attractive to job seekers, but fewer and fewer employers are offering them.
Rita Karavaitienė, marketing director at CV-Online LT, said that employers are remaining more cautious and are carefully evaluating how offering remote work will affect their chances of finding the right person.
While companies are luring employees back to the office, a new idea has come to the forefront in Europe: outdoor office days. Inga Gurauskienė, associate professor at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), said the idea is to shed light on the stress of working in closed office spaces.
The initiative, which originated in the Netherlands, encourages office workers to spend at least one day working outdoors. This year, more than 20 institutions in Lithuania have joined the initiative, including KTU. Gurauskienė said that university employees chose sunny weather and went to work with their computers under the open sky. The authors of the initiative hope to expand the concept next year and spend a week outdoors instead of one day.
Read full article in English here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2597767/no-more-seaside-zooms-lithuanian-employers-rethink-remote-work
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