The Public Policy Research Centre organized an online conference “Svevideće oko” (“An all-seeing Eye”) on the topic of remote work and employee monitoring on February 28, 2022. At the invitation of the Centre, Partner Tijana Žunić Marić participated in the first session dedicated to these present topics.
Since its establishment in 2010, Public Policy Research Centre has become one of the most relevant think-tank organizations through its extensive research and public advocacy, which deals with issues such as the future of work in Serbia, inclusive security and the creation of sustainable partnerships focused on social change, among others.
According to the Center’s research data, during 2020, 9% of the workforce in Serbia has shifted to remote work, and while we await the updated official data for 2021, it is believed that this number is even higher. This practice has enabled employers to monitor their employees with various information and communication solutions. Based on the results of the new research conducted by the Public Policy Research Center, it can be concluded that employers and employees are not yet aware of their rights and obligations related to remote work. The mentioned research also showed that 75% of workers who work remotely are not aware that their performance is monitored remotely.
During the session, Partner Tijana Žunić Marić spoke together with Danilo Krivokapić, the director of SHARE Foundation, on the legal regulation of employee monitoring in Serbia.
The list of esteemed speakers included, among others, Zlatko Petrović, Assistant Secretary-General at Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Nevena Ružić from the Open Society Foundation Serbia, and Stefan Todić, legal representative of the Nezavisnost Trade Union Confederation.
“Combining work from home and the office is not regulated in detail in Serbia. International tendencies are such that many countries are now, in the post-Covid-19 phase, revising their national legislation and it is likely to occur some kind of harmonization in the sense that all laws will regulate this issue more deeply. We have only two Articles in the Employment Law that specify this matter, and for now, our aw currently recognizes only either-or policy, either you work outside the employer’s premises or you work at the employer’s premises. We have managed to overcome this obstacle by concluding the appropriate annexes to the employment agreements that provide for this possibility.”
In the report on the B92 news portal on the conference, Tijana further states there is often a hybrid work model where work is done both remotely and from the office, which often exceeds the possibility to be regulated by concluding an annex to an employment agreement.
You can also read what Tijana has to say about the regulation on remote work in the text published by Paragraf, which focuses on the obligation of the employer to pay compensation to employees who work from home and use their own equipment.
Watch the entire conference and listen to Tijana and other participants talking on this hot topic.
