Royal Decree-Law 29/2020, of 29 September, on urgent measures in the field of teleworking in the Public Administrations and human resources in the National Health System to deal with the health crisis caused by COVID-1, introduced a new article 47.bis in the consolidated text of the Law of the Basic Statute of the Public Employee to regulate teleworking, considered as that modality of remote service provision in which the competential content of the workplace can be developed, whenever the needs of the service allow, outside the units of the Administration, through the use of information and communication technologies.

The new article establishes that the provision of services through teleworking will be carried out in the terms of the rules that are dictated in its development, which will be the subject of collective negotiation in the corresponding field. This is aimed at developing the definitive regulation of teleworking as a form of organization of the provision of services in the General Administration of the State. To this end, the second final provision of the aforementioned royal decree-law establishes that the Public Administrations will have a period of six months to adapt their teleworking regulations.

The normative development of an organizational instrument such as teleworking requires the approval of a norm that establishes on a general and permanent basis the rules that will govern the organization of this form of work in the different ministerial departments and public agencies of the General Administration of the State.

The draft Royal Decree regulating teleworking in the field of the General State Administration intends to configure the general normative framework of this way of working, already outlined by the new article 47.bis of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Statute of the Public Employee for personnel in the service of the General State Administration. This regulatory framework must serve as a basis for the implementation of teleworking in the different ministerial departments and public bodies once the end of the health crisis due to COVID-19 is determined, in the terms provided in the current regulations.

The development of pilot programs, sponsored by Order APU/1981/2006, of June 21, which promotes the implementation of pilot programs of teleworking in ministerial departments, was accelerated by the impact of the health crisis due to Covid-19, which forced to use the technological tools available to guarantee an effective functioning of services and the exercise of the rights of citizens and companies safeguarding the health of all, through the intensive use of forms of organization and provision of work in non-face-to-face mode. Experience has shown that the introduction of teleworking as a form of service provision encourages the promotion of transformations that result in the improvement of efficiency, the well-being of employees and public employees, and the development of a digitalized, more open and participatory administration.

The commitment acquired with the digital transformation of the public sector framed in the Digital Spain 2025 strategy, as well as the identification of the Administration of the 21st Century as one of the ten policies lever of structural reform for a sustainable and inclusive growth of which the Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience is composed, show how the generalization of teleworking supposes a starting point on which to support this impulse of digitalization and territorial cohesion.

This requires, on the one hand, the regulation of teleworking conditions and, on the other, the provision of tools to employees and public employees that allow them to carry out their work collaboratively according to the needs of each profile. It will also require the use of new generation infrastructures and connectivity solutions that can support such teleworking.

To this end, the adoption of a normative text with a vocation for the future is crucial, which establishes a general model of teleworking for its definitive implementation in the General Administration of the State as a stable form of organization of work in a context of normality once the epidemiological crisis due to Covid-19 has been overcome.

The project of Royal Decree regulating teleworking in the General Administration of the State is part of the reforms undertaken in the Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience, with the aim of promoting the modernization of the Public Administrations.

The primary objective is to comply with the mandate given by Royal Decree-Law 29/2020, of 29 September, adapting the regulation to the provisions of article 47.bis of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees.

The main objective, however, is the improvement and modernization of the instruments of work organization in the General Administration of the State, normalizing teleworking as a form of public service provision.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the regulation of teleworking in the General Administration of the State pursues several indirect objectives. Thus, the implementation of teleworking should also contribute to:

• To the modernization of the organization of work through the generalization of goal-oriented management and performance evaluation;
• To the reduction of costs, with a better use of the spaces;
• Environmental sustainability and the promotion of the presence of the General Administration of the State in the territory, especially in those areas in demographic decline; as well as
• To the improvement of the reconciliation of professional development with personal and family life, respecting in any case the principles of equal treatment between women and men and co-responsibility.

This proposal follows the mandate of the second final provision, regarding the adaptation of standards, of Royal Decree-Law 29/2020, of 29 September.

The possibility of carrying out a detailed regulation of the figure, beyond the general rules that ordinarily constitute the content of a rule with legal status, is considered convenient.

The alternative non-regulatory solution would be the maintenance of the status quo, and the survival of a dispersed regulatory framework, since the mandate requires the adaptation of the teleworking regulation, beyond projects or pilot experiences.

On the other hand, the alternative of the modification of the ministerial order currently in force is not considered appropriate, since it was approved in order to favor the extension of pilot experiences, an object that is currently greatly exceeded by the regulatory reality, so that the adaptation of it to the provisions of article 47.bis of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees must be carried out through a new standard such as the one proposed.