During this year’s very successful UHM Sajf event I met and discussed many topics with our members especially those in the Public Service. Some of these members asked me about the Teleworking scheme available for government employees and gave me the idea to write about this topic today.

Nowadays most families have to struggle to manage a busy life, especially those where both parents are employed and have small children. Naturally everyone wants to do the best for their family and here the word Telework comes into play. I hear the word Telework continuously but believe that some people don’t actually know the true meaning of this term. The term Telework seems also to not have permeated in our culture yet so many employees and even employers have to make a big effort to understand us Unions when we try to speak about this subject. So what is exactly happening in some departments when Government workers wish to avail themselves of Telework and what are the pros of granting employees to work from home?

Most businesses and the government are always looking for more cost effective ways to reduce on energy and to cause less damage to the environment. Whenever you open the newspaper or listen to the news, there are always messages on how to stop damaging the environment and how to be greener. A cost effective way for employers and the Government to jump on the green train without the work suffering is to make Telework more available and to enhance the present scheme which was introduced in 2008 (Circ. 06/08). More employees working from outside the office would reduce the amount of paper, ink, toner and electricity used. Moreover less fossil fuel would be used to commute to and from work and less traffic would congest our streets.

I am sorry to say that I have recently been contacted by some members who wished to avail themselves from the Teleworking scheme but have been struggling for the last year to make this happen. One person in particular that I met in hospital while visiting my father, has a sick mother with disability and is bed bound. She has been valiantly trying to start Teleworking to be able to be home with her very sick parent. To date she has not been granted to Telework even though I have written to her Department more than once and know that this is a genuine case.

The Government Employees Section within UHM will keep making its utmost to make sure that those genuine cases which are eligible for Telework are given the opportunity of Teleworking. This would benefit them, but most of all it will benefit the Departments they are part of by not losing experienced and dedicated employees because these employees cannot work any longer due to familiar obligations.

Edwin Balzan

Secretary

Government Employees Section

UHM