The Catalan Government eliminates teleworking among senior officials of the Generalitat

Goodbye to teleworking among senior officials of the Catalan public administration. The Generalitat has issued an instruction that orders the elimination of the possibility of using remote work for deputy directors general and organically assimilated positions. According to the new order, this modality is “hardly compatible with the nature and responsibilities inherent” to these positions, which must be exercised “exclusively in person.” The document, published on January 7, gives the general secretariats a period of 15 days to revoke the teleworking authorizations already granted in these groups.

The instruction highlights the “high degree of strategic responsibility” of these jobs and adds that they have a “direct impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of public policies” since they are responsible for the planning, coordination and strategic policy execution of each department.

The instruction, signed by the Secretary of Administration and Public Function, Alícia Corral, highlights the importance of the “effective and constant presence” of senior officials as responsible for the supervision of work teams and the control and organization of the work of technical personnel. and administrative. For this reason, it orders that the general secretaries, sectoral secretariats and general directorates and organically assimilated ones carry out their work “exclusively in person” and put an end to teleworking, once the health emergency due to the outbreak of Covid-19 has been overcome, it will soon be five years ago.

Other arguments that the document points out are that the general subdirectorates and the organically assimilated sites represent “the highest professional echelon” of the Generalitat administration and act as a link between political and technical positions; and that the presence of these positions in their workplace is a “necessary element for the proper functioning of public services” since, he adds, it encourages the leadership and coordination of work teams, reinforces timely decision-making real, facilitates the immediate resolution of possible conflicts or incidents and coordination with other bodies or areas and “consolidates” institutional representation in meetings.