The other side of work disability: at first everyone was rescued and now some cannot find workers, others face layoffs

A vicious circle: there is no one to work for in one place, no more work in another

During quarantine, the Ministry of Health (SAM) recommends that employees with preschool or school age children work from home, or those who do not have this option, take a certificate of incapacity for work.

Julita Varanauskienė, the director of Sodra, told BNS that the number of people with temporary incapacity to work who care for young children at home has recently decreased. According to her, in April there were about 60 thousand people with disabilities to work and take care of children, at that time in mid-May their number had dropped to 51 thousand.

“I would say so boldly that it will continue to decline so much that I would not dare.” We don’t expect that special change to open kindergartens. After looking at who cares for children at home, a large part are those whose businesses are limited, ”said J. Varanauskienė.

Previously, the head of Sodra said that employees of shops, tourism, entertainment and dental services companies mostly receive certificates of incapacity for work, and people whose activities have not been suspended by quarantine have requested certificates of incapacity for the job.

Rita Karavaitienė, Marketing Manager for job search portal CV-Online, says the employee survey revealed that employees and companies have chosen various measures to combat the pandemic. Among the most popular options is work from home, but several employees have taken paid and unpaid leave, sick leave certificates, etc.

“As companies recover, whether or not they want to work, it largely depends on the measures companies have taken during quarantine to save the company and employees, and how this has been communicated to employees. The most difficult way to recover workers will be for those companies that have taken extremely drastic measures, such as “ temporary layoffs ”, the value of unpaid vacations and the inadequate communication of all measures applicable to workers, is say. and. employees did not feel support and understanding, “says R. Karavaitienė.

Palmira Sirusienė, director of the personnel consulting company “Noriu staff solutions group”, agrees that a vicious circle is currently forming, with the reduction of quarantine and the introduction of prohibited activities, there is no one to work in Businesses, in others, some employees are unable to work due to child care. There really won’t be that much work anymore.

“Significant state actions will be maintained to ensure greater commercial support. Other risk factors remain, such as the possibility of becoming infected with COVID-19. We all need to be very careful. We have recently said that some companies are already concerned that they may simply lose projects. existing orders when faced with infection So when starting a more active life and going back to work, it is very important to be able to quickly investigate or even carry out investigations in companies, so there is no need to stop activities due to to uncertainty and quarantine everyone, and healthy employees ”, emphasizes P. Sirusienė.

Initially rescued, then caused difficulties

Lina Delfi, manager of a small bakery in Vilnius, said the certificates of incapacity for work issued by Sodra initially saved the bakery during a particularly difficult quarantine period, as the workload had decreased significantly and five of the 12 employees they looked after the children at home. However, with the quarantine reduction, the number of orders also increased, and more and more people came looking for fresh buns and delicacies. Then Lina faced the problem that there was no one left to carry out all the orders.

“Although the quarantine is coming to an end, it seems that everything is recovering little by little, but some of our employees are still not working because they are babysitting at home. We think that opening kindergartens would improve the situation and the employees could return But not everyone wants to start taking their children to kindergarten because they are afraid, “says Lina.

The head of the bakery says that he has partially found a way out: he has temporarily hired a relative and is currently trying to turn around with the available capacity.

“It is good that he is a family person, so he understands the situation and agreed to help us temporarily. Therefore, I have no doubt that he will understand when this help will no longer be necessary. I cannot imagine how other companies are getting out of this situation. “said the interlocutor.

I don’t know how to get employees back to work anymore

For some companies, sick leave certificates have actually been very helpful during quarantine, but it turns out that not all people with outstretched arms are waiting for their employees to return as they no longer know how to occupy them.

Gintautas Čečys, head of Terminal LT, a company that provides warehousing, logistics and delivery services in Lithuania, says Delfi said that when orders fell by half during quarantine, the number of employees had to be reduced.

“Because we work with products that travel to coffee shops, restaurants, supermarkets, the number of our orders has been reduced by almost half since the introduction of quarantine. We had to reduce capacity accordingly. We encourage employees to take paid vacations and announce partial downtime. A significant proportion, about 15 employees, are still unable to work due to childcare, which at the same time helps the company to reduce costs.

As the number of orders continues to decline even with the relaxation of quarantine restrictions, and it seems that the flow of goods will not return to the previous level in the near future, we are considering what to do when all colleagues have to return to work, “he says the company manager.

The interlocutor added that he did not find state support to help maintain jobs after the end of the quarantine. According to the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, it is planned to compensate for downtime only for those employees who were also in quarantine, so those employees who are currently babysitting do not claim it.

“We will try to keep the team and fire as few people as possible. We try to attract additional customers, saving by giving up unnecessary expenses.” However, this problem affects tens of thousands of people who care for children; Certainly, not everyone will have a place to return to after the end of the quarantine, so there may be a huge wave of layoffs.

Money provided by the government for unemployment benefits could go towards keeping jobs, thus maintaining better public expectations for the future and reducing the economic slowdown, “says G. Čečys.

The force cut in half served the same purpose.

Giedrė Veličkienė, the founder of Aromáma, the director of the cosmetic production company, says the company had a lot of work and very few employees during quarantine. Most people who work at the company have young children, so most of them used disability certificates issued by Sodra for childcare.

G. Veličkienė estimates that approximately 15 of the 35 employees worked during this period. The company has not announced any downtime for any of its employees and is very pleased with that. Therefore, in this case, the child care sick leave certificates allegedly saved the company and its employees significantly.

However, G. Veličkienė points out that the company had to face the challenges of quarantine, the biggest of which was the stagnant supply of raw materials from abroad, because after the quarantine paralyzed the entire world, the demand for some materials premiums increased significantly.

“Our regular suppliers have introduced quotas for tea tree essential oil: A buyer could only buy a few liters of this recognized and natural disinfectant at a time.” Suppliers generally ship within 1-2 days, but this period has been extended to one week or 10 days during the quarantine period. As a result, we had problems, but we found solutions, we adapted to the situation, ”says the interlocutor.

According to the founder of Aromáma, the quarantine was a great test for the entire team, since the woman was convinced that, if necessary, fewer people would do the same goal, but at the cost of overtime.

“We are extremely grateful to our employees for working painlessly during quarantine. They all worked as much their own work as theirs. Sellers, middle managers, drivers – they all worked in production and shipping without exception. It was important for everyone to keep their jobs, and At the beginning of the quarantine, we told our people that we would do everything possible to save all our jobs. Today we are happy that we have not lost any of our 35 employees, “emphasizes the businesswoman.

Some of the company’s employees worked from home: those who responded to the surge in electronic calls and inquiries, those who brought something to stick or pack something at home.

“It wasn’t easy working from home with the kids, I know, because I worked the same way during those two months. However, it’s fun that clients also see everything in a more forgiving and forgiving way. The slower pace of work or the boy who was looking in the background during the phone conversation did not surprise anyone, “says G. Veličkienė and is pleased that Aromáma is already working in the usual way today.

What to do when some are understaffed and others are scarce?

Rimantas Stanevičius, a labor law expert at the law firm Ellex Valiunas, commented on options employers can consider when facing the challenges of disabled employees when no one is there to work for the company. First, it emphasizes that workers with a work disability cannot be fired.

“Temporary staff can be used, especially as the requirements for hiring staff are currently simplified. This should make it easier for companies to balance activities when some are in short supply and others are in surplus.

Another alternative is fixed-term employment contracts. Up to 20 percent employees can be hired on fixed-term contracts even for permanent jobs. And if fixed-term contracts were concluded before the specific return of the permanent staff in question due to incapacity for work, that restriction would not even apply.

Of course, in companies where teleworking is possible, the aforementioned problem of work disability due to childcare can be further solved simply by agreeing with such workers that they will work remotely. Then the incapacity for work must be stopped and the conditions for teleworking must be negotiated, ”says the lawyer.

And what to do for those companies facing layoffs? According to R. Stanevičius, in this case, the option available to the employer may be annual leave, if the employees agree to leave. It also notes that even after the end of quarantine, it will be possible to declare downtime, and therefore pay less for workers with downtime.

“It is true that if the regulation does not change, the payment of such downtime will not be the minimum wage, but 40%. Average salary. Some companies that want to avoid layoffs are also considering agreements with employees on temporary changes in the hours of work and wages, hiring employees for other companies, etc., ”says the expert in labor law.

Kindergartens are open, but children are not driven there

There are cases where employees sometimes abuse Sodra’s certificates of incapacity for work, even though kindergartens are already open, the child might attend them, but parents extend the “vacation” because it is more profitable not to work and receive the benefit. According to R. Stanevičius, there can be at least several reasons why parents behave this way.

“For example, if a downtime is declared in the workplace for which the employee would receive the minimum wage, the sickness benefit may be significantly higher: 65.94% of the compensatory wage, without exceeding the” ceiling. ” therefore, it is natural for you to pay much more for an employee to exercise the state-granted right to receive inability to work during quarantine and care for children.

Another reason may be that work disability becomes additional protection against dismissal of certain people. If a person has received a notice of termination and the termination date for termination is approaching, the termination date is postponed to the day after the end of the incapacity for work. Therefore, the employee may tend to delay the term of the dismissal ”, explains the expert in labor law from Ellex Valiunas.

Will there be a second wave of layoffs when downtime and disability end?

In the Fishukuk Pandemic Economics Group, people actively share their thoughts about working after quarantine. Some workers fear that another big wave of layoffs awaits us, when sick workers will no longer receive sick leave certificates and there will be no more compensation for downtime.

“Hearing such fears from employees, they would not want to speculate on the rumors. The situation will depend on general economic trends, and it is not yet possible to assess them. Technically, even now, employers can lay off up to 50 percent. Subsidized workers, notwithstanding the conditions for the subsidies imposed by the State. So, those who really plan to reduce the number of employees can do so at any time. I would not like to think that the second wave, if any, will stand out from the general context “, R. Stanevičius points out.

R.-Karavaitienė, Marketing Manager of CV-Online, adds that the additional scenario in the labor market will depend on many components: the general situation in the country and the world in the fight against the pandemic, the growth of consumption, if the The company will be able to adapt to the new conditions, support to know if the clients of the company will place orders and maintain the collaboration, and so on.

“Therefore, the situation of each company must be evaluated individually, but, of course, in the event of unfavorable and long-term conditions, companies may have to make unpopular decisions,” says R. Karavaitienė.