The digital transformation and prevalence of online technology have created new work models; the workforce is becoming mobile and employees are becoming able to do their jobs from anywhere through digital means of communication. Such work models break the traditional rule of strict adherence and commitment to workplaces and provide more flexibility to employees. The global COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally accelerated the widespread of these new work models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Egypt, the government has given high priority to digital transformation by launching several initiatives to encourage using electronic means of communication and information technologies in various sectors including the corporate and businesses, banking and finance, healthcare and life-sciences, education, taxation and social insurance etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A number of important laws have been enacted during last few years to support the government\u2019s digital transformation strategy. This includes the E-payment Law No. 18\/2019, the Anti-Cybercrime Law No. 175\/2018, the New Banking Law No. 194\/2020 (regulating for the first time e-banking and financial technology \u201cFintTech\u201d), the Unified Tax Procedures Law No. 206\/2020 (implementing electronic tax reporting and collection systems), the New Customs Law No. 207\/2020 (establishing an electronic system to track goods and to electronically submit and exchange documents), the New Consumer Protection Law No. 181\/2018 (regulating e-commerce and remote contracting), and the Personal Data Protection Law No. 151\/2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This digital transformation has changed the working lifestyle and evolved new models of work relationships. The common element in such new work models is that employees perform their jobs, partially or entirely, remotely outside the work office by using technology and digital tools. Under these models employees are given flexibility \u2013 to different extents – to determine their work routine, working hours, the places in which they will perform work and \u2013 in some cases – the number of clients they will serve and the workload they will perform. This comes contrary to the traditional work relationships which are essentially based on monitoring and controlling employees inside workplaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Below are the most common terminologies used for remote work models which grew globally and in Egypt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Generally, \u201cTele\u201d is added to words to refer to distance. Hence, \u201cTele-work\u201d is a work arrangement which allows employees to perform job tasks away from the work office. Employer and employee can choose between alternative workplaces such as home, tele-work centers, co-working spaces or other alternatives.<\/p><\/li>
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, WFH became common worldwide. WFH is similar to the traditional work; except the non-physical attendance of the employees in the workplace as they perform their job duties remotely from home.<\/p><\/li>
\u201cHybrid Work\u201d is another work model based on rotation and combination between both work from home and office work. This model is effective in keeping the necessary social distance to avoid the spread of Covid-19 between employees by reducing the presence of large number of employees in the office at the same time.<\/p>
Hybrid Work gives employers the ability to reduce the gap between remote and office work, and balancing between work tasks need to be performed inside the office and tasks that can be completed remotely.<\/p><\/li>
Another model of remote work is known as the \u201cMobile Work\u201d which depends on making available means of technology and networks and allowing employees to have access to the information, clients, and systems they need in order to complete their work regardless of their physical location and without being inside the office.<\/p><\/li>
The gig work or platform work is a different model. It is a temporal relationship whereby the employer hires persons and freelancers to carry out specific work for a certain period of time for an agreed payment. It is mainly based on flexibility, independence and temporality, and it depends on the demand and supply in the job market.<\/p>The gig economy offers different types of jobs such as independent contractors, freelancers, on-demand employees, project-based employees and temporary or part-time employees. An obvious example of the gig work is the employees for digital platforms and online applications, i.e. Airbnb and Uber.<\/em><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n There has been a long debate whether persons involved in remote work models (particularly those working in the gig economy) are deemed \u201cworkers\u201d and hence subject to the implementation of the employment law, or alternatively they are independent contractors or consultants due to the flexibility and independence they enjoy while performing their jobs. The Egyptian Labor Law No. 12\/2003 (the \u201cLabor Law\u201d) is historically influenced by the industrial revolution of the 19th century. The current provisions of the Labor Law are essentially focused on employees\u2019 physical presence inside the workplace and do not include provisions regulating flexible or remote work models. Many of the provisions of the Labor Law need to be updated to cope with the global digital revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We herein suggest some key matters that need to be considered under the Labor Law and its executive regulations in order to adapt with the new work models:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Un-written Employment Relationships:<\/strong> the relationship between the employer and the employee in the remote work models will not necessarily be written-down in a contract. Therefore, the Labor Law in Egypt should acknowledge that written contracts are not necessarily the \u201cstarting point\u201d of an employment relationship. The nature of the legal relationship has to be basically assessed from parties\u2019 conduct and arrangements and not from written agreements.<\/p>\n<\/li> Electronic Signature and Writings:<\/strong> e-signature and e-writing are regulated, in Egypt, by virtue of Law No. 15\/2004 which gives e-signature the same evidentiary weight as \u2018wet ink\u2019 signature if it fulfills a number of conditions and technical requirements. The law provides that qualified electronic signature can be used in civil, commercial and administrative dealings. E-signing should accordingly be recognized in concluding employment contracts between employers and employees. Electronic Work Policies and Code of Conduct<\/strong>: the Labor Law requires employers to physically display work and disciplinary policies inside the workplace. It is now becoming essential for the Labor Law to allow employers to announce work policies, code of ethics and disciplinary polices to employees via electronic means (i.e. emails, work clouds, data-bases and servers, virtual meetings\u2026 etc).<\/p>\n<\/li> Performance Management and Salaries:<\/strong> in the lack of physical direct contact between employers and employees in the remote work models, successful implementation of these work models requires applying effective performance management plans and using easy communication tools between employers and employees (Such as video conferences and group chats). This will enable employers to supervise and track the work related tasks, setting remote working schedules for employees, sharing ideas and plans, establishing performance indicators, and increasing productivity level by offering incentives and rewarding schemes. The Labor Law should also be updated to allow employers to adopt salary scales linked to performance and achieved targets.<\/p>\n<\/li> Termination for Performance:<\/strong> courts in Egypt should start acknowledging \u201cinsufficient-performance\u201d as a legitimate ground for terminating employment relationships. To avoid arbitrary dismissal by employers, the Labor Law can oblige employers to implement a tight Performance Development Plan (PDP<\/abbr>) before terminating an employee for performance related grounds.<\/p>\n<\/li> Electronic Personnel Records:<\/strong> the Labor Law currently obliges employers to maintain HR\/personnel records inside the workplace (including employees\u2019 names, professions, skill levels, social status, address, recruitment dates, annual leaves and absence, disciplinary records, appraisal reports, etc). The Labor Law should allow employers to keep these HR records electronically to cope with the prevailing technological transformation.<\/p>\n<\/li> Digital Infrastructure:<\/strong> In order to guarantee successful application of flexible\/remote work models, companies should equip their employees with appropriate digital infrastructure and establishing strong software systems and networks to enable employees to perform their jobs and securely have remote access to the information and work servers.<\/p>\n<\/li> Cybercrimes & Securing Work Systems:<\/strong> the digital infrastructure of the companies should be supported by a network security system, data backup and recovery system to eliminate cybercrimes and potential risks of divulging company\u2019s confidential information or clients\u2019 data. Such measures should be taken in accordance with the Egypt\u2019s recent Anti-cybercrime Law No. 175\/2018.<\/p>\n<\/li> Digital Trainings:<\/strong> companies must provide appropriate training programs and educate employees about digital work, information technology and how to efficiently use the company\u2019s digital systems.<\/p>\n<\/li> Data Protection:<\/strong> companies must adhere to a proper data protection compliance system with respect to the personal data they collect or process; including the data of their clients and employees. This compliance system must adhere to the provisions of the newly issued Data Protection Law No. 151\/2020.<\/p>\n<\/li> Confidentiality and NDAs:<\/strong> companies should request employees to sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements – at the beginning of their employment – to protect the information of the company and the clients.<\/p>\n<\/li> Restrictive Covenants:<\/strong> companies should incorporate in their employment contracts appropriate \u201crestrictive covenants clauses\u201d to enforce obligations of non-compete, non-solicitation, non-poaching on their employees.<\/p>\n<\/li> For any inquiries, please contact Dr. Eman Riad<\/strong><\/a> or Heba El-Abd<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The digital transformation and prevalence of online technology have created new work models; the workforce is becoming mobile and employees are becoming able to do their jobs from anywhere through digital means of communication. Such work models break the traditional rule of strict adherence and commitment to workplaces and provide more flexibility to employees. The global COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally accelerated the widespread of these new work models. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[32],"yoast_head":"\nLegal Nature of Remote Work Models<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The European Commission last February launched a public consultation to look into the legal employment status and conditions gig economy workers and to improve the rights of such workers.
Courts in different countries like the UK, France, Spain and some regional courts in Brazil have issued recent judgments in relation to Uber drivers where they deemed them \u201cworkers\u201d, despite the non-existence of written employment contracts. These court judgments were based on the ground that there is a subordination relationship between the drivers and Uber given that:<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow Egypt\u2019s Laws Can Cope with Flexible\/Remote Work Models?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, the Labor Law should be amended to expressly give evidentiary weight – in labor and employment contexts – to e-signature, recorded virtual meetings, terms and conditions of digital platforms and applications, electronic correspondence, emails, text-messages (i.e. correspondence in relation to work instructions, work organization, online appraisals reports, records of annual leaves and absence, working hours … etc.).<\/p>\n<\/li>What Companies in Egypt Need to Consider to implement Remote Work Models?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n