European Foundation
for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions

The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist
in the development of better social, employment and
work-related policies

EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level policy measures

Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Factsheet for measure CZ-2021-2/1756 – measures in Czechia

AVAST: Changes in working hours and employee involvement

Změny v pracovní době a zainteresování zaměstnanců ve firmě AVAST

Country Czechia , applies nationwide
Time period Open ended, started on 04 January 2021
Context COVID-19
Type Company practices
Category Promoting the economic, labour market and social recovery into a green future
– Flexibilisation and security
Author Aleš Kroupa (Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs)
Measure added 03 February 2021 (updated 12 April 2021)

Background information

The company AVAST is originally a Czech company producing software for computer security. The company offers its products to both corporate customers and households. The company was founded in 2010 as a successor to the Alwil Software cooperative, whose history dates back to 1988. The company's shares are traded on the Czech and London stock exchanges.

Content of measure

At the beginning of the pandemic, all the company's employees switched to working from home. There were about 2,000 employees in all branches around the world. Since the end of May, in connection with the positive development of the situation in individual countries, the company has gradually opened offices for those employees who, for various reasons, could not or did not want to work from home and would like to return to the offices.

In July, part of the staff had to return to work from home again due to the widespread COVID infection among employees. The company then conducted a survey among employees, where they could choose between the possibility of permanently working remotely in a place of their choice or working in offices in the company's building. According to the survey, 58% of employees would like to work from the office. This possibility also allows the employees to work from home but only one or two days a week. The remaining 42% of employees chose to work remotely with the option of choosing the location of the workplace. In this case, however, the employee loses the right to a fixed position in the office and is expected to come to it at most once a week.

Use of measure

In addition to working from home, the innovations introduced by the company also include unlimited holidays. The company thus relies on the responsibility of employees to perform the agreed tasks within the agreed time horizon. At the same time, since the beginning of the year, the company has been trying to strengthen the involvement of employees by wanting to distribute shares worth approximately CZK 700 million (€27 million) among them. The number of shares allotted to each employee will be derived from the salary.

Contents

  • Basic working time
  • Bonuses
  • Leave arrangements
  • Work organisation
  • Working time flexibility

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Applies to all workers Larger corporations
Other businesses
Start-ups
Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
Company / Companies
Companies
Employer

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

Trade unions Employers' organisations
Role No involvement No involvement
Form Not applicable Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

  • No involvement
  • Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

No social partners' involvement.

Views and reactions

No social partners' involvement.

Sectors and occupations

    • Economic area Sector (NACE level 2)
      J - Information And Communication J62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities
    • Occupation (ISCO level 2)
      Science and engineering associate professionals
      Business and administration associate professionals
      Administrative and commercial managers
      Science and engineering professionals
      Business and administration professionals

Sources

  • 23 January 2021: Rušíme pracovní dobu. Práce odkudkoli znamená vyšší kvalitu, říká šéf Avastu (www.idnes.cz)

Citation

Eurofound (2021), AVAST: Changes in working hours and employee involvement, measure CZ-2021-2/1756 (measures in Czechia), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/CZ-2021-2_1756.html

Share

Eurofound publications based on EU PolicyWatch

30 January 2023

 

Measures to lessen the impact of the inflation and energy crisis on citizens

Governments across the EU continue to implement policies to support citizens and businesses in the face of rising food and energy prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis and intensified by the war in Ukraine. This article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch database from January to September 2022.

Article

12 September 2022

 

First responses to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens

Although the worldwide pandemic situation had already disrupted supply chains and triggered increases in energy and food prices in 2021, the situation deteriorated in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Article

12 September 2022

 

Policies to support EU companies affected by the war in Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses that governments across the EU have started to implement to support companies affected by the rising prices, and those with commercial ties to Ukraine, Russia or Belarus.

Article

5 July 2022

 

Policies to support refugees from Ukraine

This article summarises the first policy responses of EU Member States, including those of the social partners and other civil society actors, enabling refugees to exercise their rights under the Temporary Protection Directive.

Article

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process.