One of the most important changes in the last year in the employer-employee relationship was the switch to telework. To be honest, it started from a position of distrust and control manifested by managers who asked themselves how efficient would be people who no longer worked in the office and now had to manage family situations. Many managers have asked for legal advice in HR consulting to clarify the responsibilities of the team members in the new form of work. Gradually, things got balanced, with some employers declaring even better results than those achieved at the company’s headquarters. 85% of companies said that remote work improved their productivity, according to Hubstaff, the productivity monitoring tool.
On the other hand, there were situations in which employees became disengaged and took advantage of the fact that they worked from home, delaying the response to requests from the team or not being present on the laptop during the working hours agreed with the employer.
Labor legislation is constantly changed to keep up with the realities of companies
Along with these changes in the work style, the labor legislation has been adapted to the new forms of work, the definition of telework being modified as follows: “form of work organization through which the employee, regularly and voluntarily, fulfills his duties specific to the position, occupation or the job he holds elsewhere than the office space organized by the employer, using information and communication technology, by GEO 36/2021.
Compared to the old definition, the provision that teleworking can be performed at least one day a month is eliminated, as well as the obligation to mention in the employment contract the place of teleworking activity, this being a provision for work at home.
This way you have the legal framework that you can use in the relationship with the people in your team and you can choose if their form of work is telework or work from home. And they are not the only legislative changes in the last period: the electronic signature can now be used in preparing all documents in the field of labor relations, according to GEO 36/2021, and if you have a micro-enterprise with up to 9 employees it is no longer required to write the job descriptions and the internal regulations for employees, according to GEO 37/2021. There are also legislative changes to stimulate the return of parents and the unemployed to professional activity, decisions that bring a number of obligations for employers.
For specific situations that you now have to cope with in your team such as, the response time to a request, the active presence on the laptop in the work schedule, or the verification of the activity of colleagues, it is important to make changes in the Internal Regulations.
But how can you keep up with changes in labor law and how should you update the Internal Regulations so that you remain in the right legal relationship with your colleagues?
Delegate tasks where you see that it is not your area of expertise
It can be difficult to keep up with changes in labor law, to interpret different cases, or to know all the differences (for example between telework and work from home), especially when, in your human resources or management activity, you have other responsibilities. In this case, you can request HR consulting from the BIA HR team with 25 years of experience in the field.
Ioana Dobre, Consultancy Manager at BIA HR, with experience within the company for over 12 years, tells you what advantages you have when you ask for HR consulting from a team that has knowledge and skills in various areas of activity: legal consulting in business relations work (30% of team members are experts in labor law), recruitment and organizational development, payroll, and personnel management.
What are the main reasons why many companies use HR Consulting services?
The main reasons why companies use HR consulting services are the know-how and overview of the consulting team, but also the promptness and professionalism we offer in responding to requests.
What kind of problems/situations do companies now face in the relationship with employees, problems generated perhaps by recently adopted legislative provisions? How do you help them in this regard?
Legislative changes adopted during the pandemic as well as the implementation of telework (in many companies in the market) have generated a number of disciplinary situations caused by the fact that some employees become disengaged in the team they belong to, and on the other hand, employers feel the need to have precise control over the daily activities of employees. However, these situations have their solution in a series of provisions that can be implemented by the Internal Regulations or by additional acts to the individual employment contract.
What are the steps of collaborating with BIA HR on the HR consulting process?
Collaboration with BIA HR on the consulting side is easy, in the sense that potential clients or existing clients request certain services for which we send a financial offer. If the client agrees to the submitted offer, a service contract is signed, and the consultants assigned to the project can start the activity for this project (research, preparation of answers, or preparation of documentation, on a case-by-case basis).
As a rule, the situations for which consulting services are requested must be resolved within a tight timeframe and the whole process goes very fast from the initial moment of signing the contract with the client until the completion of the project.
How do you think the HR consulting services offered by BIA HR differ from those of other companies that offer similar services?
The professionalism and the availability of the consultant are our superpowers. In addition to the above, at BIA HR we believe it is important to know your client and so we can anticipate his needs and be proactive.
What are the advantages of companies that require HR consulting?
I want to emphasize two essential advantages, the certainty of a job well done and the time gained to complete a project.
Our mission is to handle all the necessary documents in relation to employees, to provide support in disciplinary investigations, as well as in negotiating with employee representatives. Specifically, we carry out the following activities:
- Preparing Internal Regulations for organizations in various fields, in line with the needs of our partners and legal provisions;
- Support in drafting individual labor contracts or specific clauses;
- Providing assistance in terms of disciplinary investigations;
- Providing support for negotiating with employee representatives;
- Support the preparation of the organizational chart;
- Analyzing positions within the organization and drafting job descriptions;
- Providing support to partners for the punctual interpretation of some normative acts or their implementation;
- Drafting and sharing legal information to subscribers.
In collaboration with our partners, we place great emphasis on confidentiality. We would very much like the information to be limited to the parties directly involved in the contractual collaboration.
What results have you noticed over time in companies that have provided legal advice on employment relationships?
The results are observed by the client and considering that we have clients with whom we have been working for over 20 years, it means that results exist and the client feels them.
Labor legislation has been frequently amended and updated recently to keep up with the realities of companies, to regulate labor relations between employers and employees, as well as to stimulate the return of parents and the unemployed to the pre-pandemic level of professional activity. In addition, sanctions for non-compliance with the new provisions are increasing, as well as the controls by the authorities. A team of HR consultants with expertise in the legal field, human resources, and payroll helps you to be in the right relationship with the people in your team and to avoid legal issues.
Sources:
https://blog.hubstaff.com/remote-workers-more-productive/
http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/240839
http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/242068
http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/242069
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