This country’s lead Government voice on labour and industrial relations believes Barbados’ labour laws are “robust” enough to protect employees who have been forced to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Claudette Hope-Greenidge, the Chief Labour Officer (CLO) who operates from the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, made the comments in the Ministry’s latest edition of its newsletter Labour Matters.
The senior government official conceded, however, that there were still some challenges associated with working from home that needed to be addressed through legislation. The CLO said while the pandemic had uncovered areas that required improvement, the local laws were being used to “good effect” to manage many of the multi-faceted situations that have arisen.
Explaining the term working from home (WFH), she noted that it was “a working arrangement in which a worker fulfills the essential responsibilities of his/her job while remaining at home, using information and communications technology”.
In Barbados, she referenced the Employment Rights Act, the Safety and Health at Work Act, Cap.
356, Holidays with Pay Act, Cap. 348, the Shops Act, Cap. 256 A, and the Employment (Sexual Harassment Prevention) Act – 2017.
“The main consideration is that the employer/ employee relationship remains firmly in place.
It is not set aside simply because an employee performs duties in a place other than what was the traditional location or through the traditional model.
“Working from home is a complex situation – the approach is at once necessary to support the continuity of operations and employment, but the approach has also placed focus on concerns which, if not properly addressed, may result in counterproductivity,” the CLO explained.
Noting that there needed to be adherence to proper practices even while workers were operating from home, the CLO said consideration needed to be given to respect for working time and privacy, agreed on targets and expectations, the maintenance of work-life balance, and matters of physical and mental health.
One area that Hope-Greenidge highlighted for attention was occupational health and safety concerns for those employees operating from home.
“Of significance in the WFH environment is that it primarily involves the use of computer technology or computer-aided systems of work and as a result, there is now, also, an increased focus on ergonomics and work design. In some instances, it may be possible to provide or relocate the in-office workstation at home [but] difficulties occur where, for a variety of reasons, this cannot be accommodated.
“The lines of communication between the employer and the employee have to remain open in relation to the sharing of information on the layout of workstations, the importance of adopting proper posture and the building in of rest breaks from screen-based work, particularly where the reliance on that aspect may have increased.”
At the same time, the Labour Chief argued that support systems for workers who operated from home were still required. These she highlighted as access to supervisory personnel, opportunities for learning and development, access to timely information technology support services, scheduled team meetings, as well as programmes in support of physical and mental health well-being.”
(IMC1)
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