THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACT OF TELEWORK. THE CASE OF ROMANIA
Elena-Florentina MATEI 1, Ioana Manuela MINDRICAN 1
1 Doctoral School Economy I, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
matei.elena96@gmail.com
mindrican.ioanamanuela@gmail.com
Abstract: In the current context, the phenomenon of teleworking has major implications for both individuals, organizations and society. It is well known that the relative ease of identification and use of information has led to significant changes in organizational structures, but also in the working methods of employees. Among the new working arrangements considered flexible, is, more precisely, telework, work from home, which has been implemented considerably, with the emergence of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to examine the main advantages and disadvantages of this “technological revolution”, but also how the authorities have intervened through fiscal measures. Regarding the main advantages of telework, they are represented by the increasing autonomy and flexibility, the reduction of damage to the environment, as well as the development of optimal solutions for populations with special needs. However, the advantages are weighed against the disadvantages, as some employees believe that they are affected by the feeling of isolation and social distancing, and in terms of organization, they feel negative effects in terms of increased costs of the transition process and new working methods.
The motivation for choosing this theme is to identify the economic and social impact that this change had on employees in Romania during Covid-19. Furthermore, in the light of the case study, it is desired to establish the level of satisfaction among remote workers and why they are satisfied, respectively dissatisfied with this measure. More precisely, this article captures the way in which telework is perceived by employees in Romania, and highlights the possible benefits and pitfalls resulting from this process and the impact of the measures taken by the authorities. Regarding the research method used, it is represented by the descriptive analysis, the dynamic macroeconomic analysis by using graphs, as well as the comparative analysis according to the objectives pursued during the research. Compared to the way of presenting the information from the bibliography used and found at the end of the paper, in this paper are found only the essential aspects, the particularities of the chosen research topic, which finally provides an overview.
Keywords: telework; impact; transition; costs; measures.
