Summary report of the third webinar organised by SIGMA on human resource challenges in the context of coronavirus (COVID-19), taking place on 8 July 2020.

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Summary report
On 8 July 2020, SIGMA organised another virtual meeting with ENP South administrations to address HR
challenges in the context of coronavirus (COVID-19). This followed the meetings on the reopening of offices
held on 10 June and on the return to on-site work held on 24 June. Almost 50 participants from Algeria,
Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority1
, as well as from Delegations of the European
Union in the region, OECD MENA and SIGMA, took part in the online discussion.
Agenda: English I French I Arabic
Introductory remarks from Lech Marcinkowski, SIGMA, were followed by a presentation (in Arabic) given
by Xavier Sisternas, SIGMA, on well-being, which became crucial during the crisis. Numerous specific
actions that can be taken to prevent or address weakened motivation, stress or burnout, were described:
from raising awareness, to communication and leadership, and measures related to employees’ health.
Linda Ait-Ameur from Belgium explained how surveys (French only, in Arabic) could be used to learn about
employee well-being and improve working conditions. In a crisis, this becomes one of the key
responsibilities of HR managers and brings tangible results in terms of employee motivation, productivity,
and work satisfaction, reducing stress and absences. Surveys among employees (examples available
online) can be a useful tool to learn what employees think about the organisation and working conditions,
work-life balance and interpersonal relations.
The discussion revealed that the concept of well-being is understood differently depending on
circumstances and working conditions, taking into account cultural and institutional specificities (the
translation of the term used during the webinar prompted the participants to reflect on this and the
variations in definition, for example from that of the International Labour Organisation). Discussions
revealed that, while not all administrations are accustomed to talking about the mental and physical health
of employees of the public service, the pandemic may have led to more consideration of this area. Some
examples stated by participants showed that some aspects of well-being are already applied unofficially,
due to the solidarity among employees and through personal inititiaves, without it being anchored in the
systems and/or legal framework.
Many administrations within the region are accustomed to addressing crisis situations by focusing
primarily on maintaining the provision of services. Motivation is maintained by managers who remind the
employees about their responsibilities towards the country and citizens. Despite difficult conditions and
anxiety, employees of the Palestinian Authority administration were eager to return to work. Participants
from Jordan underlined that leaders and managers bear additional responsibility in a crisis. They need to
consider the situation of each employee (health, personal situation) and assign them tasks commensurate
with their capabilities. In Algeria, health and personal situation and also means of commuting to work,
were taken into account when managers had to identify the staff who would continue coming to work. In
Egypt, managers understood that with communication via social media available 24 hours per day,
employees felt they had no personal time, which caused stress and burnout. However, in some cases, a
sense of belonging, solidarity and cohesion contributed to the well-being and helped staff surpass
problems. The central civil service authority in Egypt is considering establishing a special psychological unit
to assist their employees.
1 Footnote by the European External Action Service and the European Commission: This designation shall not be construed
as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the European Union Member
States on this issue.

2. 2
In the anonymous poll run during the webinar, fewer than half of participants (40%) claimed that their
administration paid attention to staff well-being before the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. 35% of
participants from the region admitted that coronavirus increased staff anxiety, but the administration had
no tools to deal with it. Therefore, regular communication seem to be the preferred response to the
situation, over specific health or psychological advice (25%) or coronavirus-related training sessions (10%).
Teleworking turned out to be widely used during the confinement. It ensured business continuity for all
administrations of the region and was potentially beneficial to the well-being of employees. A presentation
(French only) given by Linda Ait-Ameur (in Arabic) focused on the legal and organisational basis of
teleworking prior to the confinement and the changes introduced during the crisis. Lessons learned will
influence the new model to be adopted in Belgium soon.
In the administrations of the region, teleworking does not have a proper legal basis yet. In Jordan, a
generation gap was noticed: newly-hired staff on average performed well when IT had to be used
extensively. This prompted civil service authorities to consider a change in the competency models by
including flexibility, ability to adapt and creativity. In Algeria, authorities noticed uneven use of digital
solutions and communication among administrations, which prompted them to consider the introduction
of permanent measures (relevant by-laws and rules) for teleworking. This may be the role of the
newly-appointed minister responsible for digitalisation. In Egypt, in some institutions 50% of employees
work on-site and 50% continue to telework. Teleworking might be more practical and cost-efficient but
the physical contact of staff strengthens team cohesion and performance. There is a new legal framework
for teleworking in Morocco, but besides the regulations, culture and awareness need to change. In Libya,
teleworking was successfully used in some administrations, but many suffered a lack of infrastructure to
share with employees.
The majority of participants from the region (77%) were of the opinion that during the confinement
teleworking “worked sufficiently well”. At the same time, only 38% claimed that it was as effective as on-
site work. The difficulties stemmed from the lack of preparation of employees and supervisors, rather than
from technical problems. As a result, this was stressful for some employees with increased or imbalanced
workloads.
When asked about the future of teleworking in their administrations, an overwhelming majority of
participants confirmed that through IT development and training teleworking will be made more efficient,
but only 20% believed that occasional teleworking would remain an option for most of the administrative
staff.
Conclusions:
• The well-being of employees is a rather new concept to the administrations of the region, but the
pandemic put this in the spotlight, so more and more managers are likely to understand its
importance for their organisations. There is no doubt that employees who feel secure, appreciated
and trusted perform better. Leadership plays a crucial role in times of crisis.
• During the crisis, the principal priorities remained to ensure physical well-being, prevent staff from
getting infected and continue to provide services. There is a lot of room for improvement for staff
well-being, not only when it comes to teleworking but also for working in the office.
• There are possibilities for changing the way public administrations work, but certain actions need to
be implemented to ensure that teleworking takes place in good conditions (technical, organisational
and managerial issues).
• Training about managing teleworking was limited, both for staff and managers, this could be
improved in the future.
• Regulation is needed also:
o to define who is responsible for what: e.g. the employer is responsible for the material needed
and has to pay for it,
o under which conditions and for which groups of people or functions teleworking is possible.
• Proper regulation on teleworking could be part of the wider digitalisation reform of the countries.