Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1254968
04.06.2020 10 HUMAN RESOURCES IN early March, working life at the Planning Authority was routine and for most employ- ees started with a commute to work every morning. But coronavirus came, disruption spread and fast adaptability has been key to survival. Two months later, not only is the Authority surviving, it's thriv- ing. The coronavirus has changed the way we work – possibly permanently. Debate surrounding whether or not these changes will outlive the pandemic is rife. All we know for certain is that job routines have been transformed. The virus has spurred the expan- sion of remote working, and companies must adapt or be left behind. Leading the pack in Malta is the Planning Authority. Ing. Stephen Ferrito (Director for ICT, Mapping and Digital Ser- vices), David Cassar (Opera- tions Assistant Director) and Mariela Dobreva (IT Manag- er) explain that in a matter of days – over a weekend to be precise – the Authority man- aged to switch to almost 100 per cent remote, digital work. For the Authority, though, this shift happened after years of strategic investment in ICT. "Since about 2018, the Authority was actively work- ing to provide tele-working and hot-desking facilities for its employees," Cassar ex- plains, who is responsible for establishing the Authori- ty's procedures that emanate from legal notices. "This kind of change can't happen overnight; it requires a gradual cultural shift," adds Ing. Ferrito, who is the crucial link between the Authority's ICT function and its oper- ations. "We pride ourselves in being an Authority that leads in ICT. In terms of re- mote working, it all started with people who had certain family requirements. In 2018, we held a six-month pilot project and, since then, many employees have switched to a working-from-home setup." The Authority's re- mote-working evolution followed in the footsteps of its drive to go paperless that had been ongoing since 2007. "Back then, we wanted to make documentation and processes easily available to Periti and the public," Cassar recalls. "By 2010, we'd already start- ed improving on eApps re- quiring Periti to submit and access documentation elec- tronically – thereby facili- tating digital processing of planning and development applications. Without invest- ment in ICT and data security systems, as well as the years of groundwork, we wouldn't have been able to adapt to working during this pandem- ic so seamlessly." "When the coronavirus hit, we already had the technolo- gy required for some employ- ees to work remotely and for applications to be processed digitally," explains Dobreva, who heads the IT unit, "but now the scale is very differ- ent. "Mid-March was a crazy time for us. On Thursday, 12 March, we had only 150 remote workers – and that's when Malta realised it had a crisis on its hands. By the fol- lowing Monday, we'd distrib- uted new laptops, bought a new server and relevant soft- ware licences, and successful- ly set up another 230 employ- ees to work from home." "This was an incredible story of teamwork," adds Ing. Ferri- to. "It was our in-house ICT team's initiative – they came up with the solution, mostly using tools already available to us, and rolled it out in days. Planning Authority adapts working life under COVID-19