Viewpoint

My home is my office

Humphrey CarterPalma27/06/2020 13:09

The workplace in Spain is bound for a radical shakeup and, for millions, for the better. It was not long ago that a former Spanish government wanted to readjust working hours and ditch siestas to be more in line with the country’s European neighbours while being more productive.

However, the pandemic appears to have forced the current government’s hands because it looks like working from home is going become very much a part of the future. Spain’s Employment Ministry has completed a draft bill that will regulate key aspects of remote work, which was widely adopted in Spain during the coronavirus lockdown.

And it is not just home workers who need to have their “legal” employment positions and conditions ratified, so too, as we witnessed yesterday, do the “riders”, the small army of cyclists who have been delivering food to homes and offices throughout the pandemic and are continuing to enjoy a roaring trade, much to the joy of restaurants and bars which have signed up to the online food delivery services.

It’s a whole new world we are moving into as we exit the lockdown and enter into the “new normal”.

Millions of people in Spain, and elsewhere in Europe, have been thinking out of the box. In Madrid, for example, people are renting out their swimming pools for nominal fees for half a day and business is booming, clouds do have silver linings.