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 LT-2020-46/1454 – measures in Lithuania

Social initiative "Let’s Overcome It Together"

Socialinė iniciatyva „Įveiksime kartu"

Country Lithuania , applies nationwide
Time period Open ended, started on 11 November 2020
Context COVID-19
Type Other initiatives or policies
Category Ensuring business continuity and support for essential services
– Smoothing frictions or reallocation of workers
Author Rasa Mieziene, Inga Blaziene, Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences
Measure added 23 November 2020 (updated 04 May 2021)

Background information

With the increase in the number of cases and the workload of epidemiologists, the National Public Health Centre (NPHC) in Lithuania is no longer able to inform all those infected with COVID-19, trace their contacts and conduct epidemiological investigations. Late epidemiological evidence undermines the control of the spread of the infection in the country. In view of this situation, and in order to help the NPHC, Lithuania’s socially responsible businesses gathered and trained an additional contact tracing team with their own funds and set up a temporary COVID-19 call centre.

Content of measure

In view of the deteriorating situation in Lithuania due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and their umbrella associations have joined their forces for the social initiative “Let's Overcome It Together”, which aims at encouraging business and society to help Lithuania manage the spread of the COVID-19 virus. As part of the initiative, on 16 November 2020, a temporary COVID-19 call centre was set up in Lithuania with about 20 new employees. The call centre is expected to provide a total of at least 50 additional jobs for conducting epidemiological investigations. The new COVID-19 call centre is located in the conference centre of the Panorama Hotel in Vilnius. As the number of employees is expected to grow, it is planned to use conference halls of other hotels too.

Employees for this job are carefully selected and fully trained, as well as provided with all the necessary work and safety equipment; their work is coordinated by NPHC representatives. Teams of the additional call centre will work on a rotating shift schedule to ensure uninterrupted assistance seven days a week.

More companies are being sought after to join the initiative so that it will continue to run as long as possible. Currently, the "Let's Overcome It Together" initiative has 13 partners which not only provide financial support, but also supply the centre with necessary resources. For example, on 17 November 2020, Tele2 mobile operator announced that it will cover the communication costs of the "Let's Overcome It Together" call centre volunteers for a period until the end of quarantine. The company will also bear the cost of maintaining 10 volunteer jobs.

The call centre started operating on 11 November 2020. Advertising agency MP AGENCY is responsible for the idea and coordination of the initiative.

Use of measure

As part of the initiative, on 16 November 2020, a temporary COVID-19 call centre was set up in Lithuania with about 20 new employees. The call centre is expected to provide a total of at least 50 additional jobs for conducting epidemiological investigations.

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Does not apply to workers Does not apply to businesses Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
Company / Companies
Companies

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: N/A

Involvement

No involvement of social patners.

Views and reactions

No involvement of social patners

Sources

  • 12 November 2020: Business coming to the aid of NPHC: additional COVID-19 call centre has been established (Į pagalbą NVSC skuba verslas – įsteigė papildomą COVID-19 skambučių centrą) (www.lrt.lt)
  • 17 November 2020: Tele2 is to cover communication costs of the "Let's Overcome It Together" call centre volunteers and invites businesses to unite („Tele2“ padengs „Įveiksime kartu“ skambučių centro savanorių ryšio išlaidas, kviečia verslus susivienyti) (www.15min.lt)

Citation

Eurofound (2020), Social initiative "Let’s Overcome It Together", measure LT-2020-46/1454 (measures in Lithuania), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/LT-2020-46_1454.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.