Surviving the Pandemic: Remote Working in the Maltese Public Service During the Covid-19 Outbreak

Abstract

This study examines how human resources in the Maltese Public Service adopt new work practices in response to COVID-19 public health measures during the first wave of the pandemic. We analyze the data we collected through seven focus group discussions and ten in-depth interviews with Public Service employees and managers in a diversity of ministries and roles. Our study reveals that Public Service policies promoting remote working relied exclusively on the service's IT infrastructure. However, the ability to respond to customer needs effectively in a time of surging demand relied entirely on effective employees' access to responsive and efficient ICT support as well as employees' prior experience with remote work modes and their predisposition to change to remote working. Adopting remote working modes uncovered inherent weaknesses in the Public Service IT infrastructure that put additional strain on the Government's centralized IT support function, especially when Public Service employees adopted tools not supported by the centralized IT support. In circumstances where centralized IT support was ineffective, Public Service employees relied on their own knowledge resources which they informally shared in groups of practice or employed operant resources (or tacit knowledge) to achieve service level objectives. These observations suggest that in times when organizations respond to immediate and unprecedented change, human resources seek to adapt by relying on tacit knowledge that is shared among people in known (often informal) groups of people with a common interest or role.

Impacts, lessons learnt and envisioning the future of firms under COVID-19 – implications for knowledge management

“…These observations are in line with recent findings (Bezzina et al , 2021) concluding that, when organisations respond to unprecedented and immediate change, their human resources attempt to adapt through tacit knowledge shared among their members, especially as these share common roles or interests.…”

Employees’ Resources, Demands and Health While Working from Home during COVID-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Study in the Public Sector

“…The resource of personal contact is highly missed by them. In the same regard, Bezzina et al [65] stated that Maltese public service employees experienced higher levels of productivity, but that they also felt secluded with the lacking presence of their coworkers when working from home.…”

“…Employees may also profit from prior experience working from home. Bezzina et al [65], who investigated Malta's public service, found out that working from home experience supported public servants in changing to remote work as well.…”

Remote workers’ perceived health during the COVID-19 pandemic: an exploratory study of influencing factors in the IT and communications sector in Malta

“…Similarly, workers also felt that demands had increased, citing longer working hours, communication issues, changing tasks and monitoring procedures. Remote working has previously been associated with greater work demands 17 ) , whereas the difficulty in monitoring remote workers has also been highlighted by managers 41 ) . Whilst the current study highlights how these factors were believed to have influenced remote workers’ health in a negative manner, a smaller number of workers noted that working from home allowed them to cope with their demands more easily and associated this with better health levels.…”