To counter the risks of the COVID-19 virus spreading, the whole planet has turned to the option of teleworking. The technology was ready, our processes were quickly adapted, and we took the leap. The majority of us are happy to be able to balance our personal life, our family obligations, and to have flexible work schedules. Some see the benefits of avoiding the morning traffic, and consider leaving the suburbs to go even further. As a Union we will protect these new gains.
For management, it was an adaptation of a mode of supervision by presenteeism, to a mode more based on productivity and deliverables. Some managers continue to demand that workers be 'Always On', green light, but that will disappear like the time-stamp machines.
The pandemic has demonstrated that teleworking is a viable option in the long term.
It also demonstrates that the employee-employer relationship is a business relationship, which does not necessarily require a personal and human relationship. You become a unit of production, inhuman, a number.
This makes the door wide open to contracting out !
In fact, the door is even bigger because it now opens to "Telemigration". The tools are not limited to a geographic area. Online translation, instantaneous, and soon voice translation, will open up the labor market to the whole planet. If your expertise is also available somewhere in the world, you are competing for your job.
Labor is the most expensive item in most service companies. Government is a service organization. Employers are seriously considering cheaper alternatives to meet their productivity goals.
Just as with countering the impact of Artificial Intelligence on our jobs, we will need to adapt quickly, to demonstrate our value. Keep up to date, but also acquire new knowledge and skills to remain essential and in demand.
There is also the ease of finding contractors, compared to the lengthy process of hiring a public service employee. The fact that the consultants are not governed by the same legislations and policies as the civil servants, it is difficult to find a new bilingual employee, vaccinated, and who has his security clearance. The shadow public service is a reality today, and in some departments and agencies already represents more than 20% of the mass of workers.
We have launched a workforce development project, which will need to be scaled up to counter the impact of teleworking and digital globalization.
