Home office has become the new norm overnight. (source: AP/TASR)
This article was published in theCareer & Employment Guide 2021, our special annual publication focused on the labour market, human resources and education.
By the time the Labour Ministry set out to make its planned major change to Slovakia’s Labour Code following the change in government that coincided with the outbreak of the pandemic in Slovakia in March 2020, it was clear some regulation of remote work would be necessary.
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The specification of work from home has thus become the most visible change introduced by the amendment the parliament passed in February 2021, effective as of March 1, 2021, one year after the elections and the coronavirus outbreak in Slovakia.
Along with home office, the amendment addressed the long-protracted issue of meal vouchers, as well as work surcharges and the position of trade unions in companies. The latter had trade unions criticising the changes and accusing the government of returning Slovakia to the 19th century. Employers’ organisations, however, welcomed the amended Labour Code.
“We perceive making meal vouchers voluntary to be a symbol of the removal of law-guaranteed business, when a few businesses make an inappropriate profit to the detriment of others, in this case employees, employers and restaurants,” Martin Hošták, secretary of the National Union of Employers (RÚZ), told The Slovak Spectator.
Home office not just a benefit any more
“Home office has become the new norm overnight and has ceased to be seen as just an employee benefit,” Ladislava Molnárová, talent acquisition partner at Amrop Jenewein, told The Slovak Spectator.
