Assessing the Impact of Coronavirus Crisis on the Nature and Trends of Remote Employment in Ukraine

• Main Author: Lychkovska Maryna R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Research Centre of Industrial Problems of Development of NAS of Ukraine 2020-11-01
• Series: Bìznes Inform
• Subjects: alternative forms of employment; remote employment; digitalized labor market; freelancing; gig workers
• Online Access: https://www.business-inform.net/export_pdf/business-inform-2020-11_0-pages-139_145.pdf

The article is aimed at generalizing the essential content of the concept of «remote employment» in the context of components that form it, analyzing the main factors of influence on these components, determining trends and features of development and spread of remote employment in coronavirus crisis. Analyzing and summarizing the scientific works of many scholars and practitioners, the sequence of development and implementation of the novel alternative forms of employment is researched. The tendency to change their essential content is defined as being dependent on the development and introduction of modern technologies. The main factors influencing the possibility of transferring novel forms of employment into a virtual mode are analyzed. The main advantages and disadvantages of spread of remote employment in lockdown conditions are allocated and analyzed. It is specified that a significant part of them can be formulated as follows: the first ones – as an advance that needs to be shared; the second ones – as problems to be solved. Doing this is quite feasible and necessary in order to develop the appropriate policy. As a result of the research, the main obstacles to the development of remote employment are identified, which include a large-scale downturn in the economic attitudes of business entities and the growth of social tension. It is reasoned that under such conditions, the strong-willed orders on the part of government can only worsen the existing situation. It is proved that only strengthening the partnership between the State, business and civil society on the basis of restoring mutual trust of all economic actors will provide an opportunity to develop a deliberate policy of recovery, part of which is the large-scale proliferation of remote labor. Remote labor will become not only a mechanism for overcoming coronavirus crisis, but also a mechanism for large-scale renewal of Ukraine’s economy on the basis of the use of the latest technologies. Prospects for further research in this direction are the creation and adapting of novel forms of remote labor, their formalization, institutional and legal support, the construction of new models of full-fledged social partnership between the State, business and civil society in the sphere of labor and employment, etc.