According to the United Nations, "hundreds of thousands of European people have discovered teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic". A reality that LOBA has easily adapted to and which has led to FLEXILOBAR, our new teleworking policy, allowing us to maintain levels of productivity and motivation allied to the balance of professional and personal life of each team member.
But what is Teleworking?
Also known as remote work, teleworking is a type of remote professional activity, carried out outside the employer's premises, and which, with the help of technology, allows the overcoming of the obstacles of physical separation, while maintaining productivity and communication.
Until the arrival of the pandemic, teleworking was an option for a few businesses, which thought they would no longer have control over the worker and the execution of the work - an example of this is the resistance of call centre operators to adopt remote work, already during the pandemic.
Home or work office?
The truth is that more than 65% of the companies in Portugal, after Covid-19, wanted to keep teleworking in 2021, according to a study released by the Global Risk Consulting Firm, Aon.
This study also revealed that "companies are focused on creating better conditions to ensure the productivity, motivation and compensation of their employees in the long term," in a teleworking regime. 67.6% of companies see teleworking as preferable, following the national standards.
LOBA was no exception and, during the pandemic, created conditions for its employees to be able to preserve their health, and at the same time, remain motivated, productive and professionally fulfilled. Soon after the announcement of the pandemic's arrival in our country, we moved our activity 100% to our homes, adopting teleworking in order to reduce the probability of having the virus, without compromising the quality of resources and professional support.
After the virus was stabilized and the restrictions imposed by the Government were relieved, we implemented at LOBA our teleworking policy, named FLEXILOBAR.
The FLEXILOBAR contemplates a hybrid or remote work model, which is duly agreed between the employee and the team management and, favouring the well-being of the employees, without jeopardizing productivity and the moments of sharing and interaction that we value so much at LOBA.
At this moment, taking into account the most recent developments of the pandemic, employees are encouraged to adopt the hybrid model, maintaining up to 50% teleworking presence. This model allows, on one hand, greater safety at a time when the pandemic is not yet over, and on the other hand, it maintains frequent trips to the office and all the benefits that come with it - the safe socializing with colleagues, an exchange of ideas over a coffee break, or even the possibility of attending our gym classes.
From a functional point of view, several measures were adopted in order to have a better perception of employees who are working presential or physically, including the Zoho Cliq tool, which allows each team member to check-in whenever they are teleworking.
It is important to refer that this teleworking policy results from a reflection that we do continuously and that allowed us to conclude that the period of remote work experienced during confinement, brought not only challenges, but also the possibility to adopt work models with greater benefits to our employees.
And if in November the scenario of mandatory teleworking was already foreseen, a situation that was confirmed, for LOBA, this model is already a reality.
It is in this logic that LOBA's FLEXILOBAR is not exclusively intended for the pandemic period, but rather for the medium and long-term future, in order to allow greater flexibility and balance between professional and personal life.
As a LOBA employee, I rejoice with this practice, as it guarantees my professional performance with quality, efficiency and health, without any kind of fears or constraints.
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