“Vedomosti”: most Russian officials did not like remote work
Photo: Nikolay Gyngazov / Global Look Press
Most Russian officials did not like working remotely, and they were among the first to return to their offices when the opportunity arose, since they perceived the transition to remote distance as a rejection of the usual way of working. On Tuesday, December 21, Vedomosti wrote about this with reference to a study by the Center for Advanced Management Decisions.
The study showed that, unlike employees of private companies, officials could not get used to the remote work format, since they had never encountered it before in the civil service. The experts used data from interviews and focus groups with officials from the central offices of five departments from June 1, 2019 to September 30, 2021 in two stages: before and after the transition to telecommuting.
The authors of the study identified two main value foundations for officials for work: the value of hierarchy (relationships based on official subordination) and the value of security (the need to protect internal information from spreading outside).
In the first case, officials lost the office environment as a workspace, and communication became more dependent on digital platforms. In addition, the boundaries of working hours have become blurred, and the working day has become longer. If managers were unable to establish work practices remotely, they returned to the office as soon as possible. With regard to the value of security, all respondents expressed concern for the safety of documents.
One of the authors of the study, Daria Shubina, noted that the main reason why civil servants were the first to return from remote work to offices is due to the fact that the “material context” in the office is important for them, and it is important for managers to monitor employees. For example, if the boss does not see the subordinate, he believes that control is lost.
Earlier, employers have disclosed attitudes towards teleworking after the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, more than a quarter of employers (27 percent) intend to completely abandon remote work. At the same time, 48 percent of employers plan to return work for employees in the office over time, 14 percent want to do it partially, 19 percent will introduce a hybrid format after a pandemic or allow employees to choose a convenient working mode themselves. The remaining 19 percent will leave everything the same.
