Background information

From the very beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19, employees of state-owned energy group Ignitis have been created conditions to work from home. According to the management, COVID-19 is changing the work culture of Ignitis companies and, therefore, when planning offices, the company is paying more attention to employee safety, availability of more space per person, and management of employee flows. The company has also moved most of its services online to reduce the number of physical contacts and thus to protect both employees and customers.

Content of measure

With the introduction of nationwide quarantine and the closure of schools and kindergartens in the country on 16 March 2020, employees with children under 14 were given the opportunity to work from home in Ignitis group companies. Where this was impossible to do due to the specifics of the work, employees were put to downtime at no fault of the employees and paid 50% of their former salary.

In addition, in order to reduce the number of physical contacts, Ignitis closed physical customer service centres during the quarantine period and moved most of its services online - employees advised customers by phone, e-mail or via the Ignitis’ self-service platform. Moreover, the company cancelled service charges for all payments made on the self-service website (https://e.ignitis.lt/) as of 13 March 2020. There will be no service charges for self-service customers until the end of the state of emergency in the country.

Use of measure

The Ignitis Group owns 22 companies with more than 4,000 employees. Most employees have been created opportunities to work from home during the quarantine.

Contents

• Solidarity
• Telework
• Work organisation

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / 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

Social partners were not involved.

Views and reactions

No information available.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 12 March 2020: Promises to create conditions for employees who have to care for children (Žada sudaryti sąlygas darbuotojams, neturintiems kur palikti vaikų) (kauno.diena.lt)
• 16 March 2020: Ignitis will apply preferential payment terms to customers affected by quarantine („Ignitis“ taikys lengvatines atsiskaitymo sąlygas dėl karantino nukentėjusiems klientams) (www.ignitis.lt)