Teleworkers and office workers are equal in their rights – Anastasia Kozak
Anastasia Kozak has a bachelor's degree from the Kyiv National University of Technology and Design. In the autumn of 2021, Anastasia took part in the Ukrainian Student Advertising Festival, supported by the ILO Project funded by the EU, to test her skills in motion design. As a result, she won the 3rd place in the "Go to light – declare work!" category and learned a lot about telework.
I chose the subject of teleworkers because it is very high on the agenda. The quarantine restrictions made many office workers switch to telework. I plan to telework too.
When I carefully studied the reference materials and video samples provided by the ILO Project, I learned that teleworkers and office workers have equal rights – provided both are formally employed. So I decided to tell others about it.
In an interesting and fun way, I tried to show that teleworkers and office workers do the same work at their computers and have definite working hours even while working in different conditions. That teleworkers do not have to sacrifice all their leisure time to work and be permanently accessible on the phone. They can go on vacation and use sick leave if needed.
It was also a revelation for me that the employer must provide teleworkers with equipment, hardware and software, or compensate for any costs related to those.
Even before participating in the festival, I understood how important the declared work is. But now I know more nuances and will be checking more carefully the conditions offered by the employer.
We are accustomed to thinking that office workers are more serious, wear business attire all the time, while teleworkers do things in a more casual and relaxed manner. But this is not so. Both work equally, and it is wrong to place one group over the other in their rights. All must enjoy respect.
