Telecommuting

Remote working for civil servants, which has effectively undergone a trial run during the Covid-19 pandemic, could be extended indefinitely after the end of the public lockdown, which the government gradually started easing this week, Kathimerini understands.

Businesses across Greece are scrambling for a way to recover after being stuck in a lockdown coma that saw economic and commercial activity grind to a halt for several weeks.

Many virtual meetings begin these days with references to our cranial and facial hair, and the unfortunate state it is in due to our isolation at home. Greece's Chief Creative Officer Steve Vranakis jokes about his shaved head - the work of his wife and the cause of a state of mild embarrassment when he had to do a video conference call with the prime minister.

The Romanian capital, Bucharest, tops the list, followed by Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta, all in the US. The Hungarian capital, Budapest, came in fourth, ahead of San Francisco.

In the European Union (EU), 17.1% of the population were living in overcrowded households in 2018, meaning they did not have enough rooms compared to the size of the household. Although merrier, overcrowded households can feel even smaller with kids playing in the same room as parents trying to telework during the coronavirus lockdown.

Enterprises view the continuation of teleworking, even after the lockdown restrictions come to an end, in a positive light, with the vast majority considering it an efficient measure against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey conducted by human resources consultancy KPMG.

The social distancing measures that have recently been introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic, have forced many people to work from home; for many of them this will be the first time that they have had to do so. However, how common was working from home before these measures came into force?

The project of putting public employees on furlough was difficult to enforce, especially in certain areas where the fight against COVID-19 would have been affected, and this project "has fallen completely", Prime Minister Ludovic Orban told private broadcaster B1 TV on Thursday evening.

The coronavirus epidemic has expedited the modernization of the state and even the private sector. We have all seen the digitization of many public services, the growing and efficient use of the internet, the expansion of teleworking, the successful implementation of online education, while at the same time appreciating the resilience of the National Healthcare System.

Bill Gates has hailed recent initiatives developed to adapt to the "new normal" imposed by the coronavirus crisis, such as teleworking and virtual software innovations, with emotional intelligence consultant Justin Bariso arguing that a platform launched by the Greek National Tourism Organization is one such "brilliant" response to the challenges of the crisis indicated by the US tech mogul.