Impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on the work of centers for social work

Marca 2020 je bila bolezen covid-19, ki jo povzroča novi koronavirus SARS-Cov-2, razglašena za pandemijo. Svetovno prebivalstvo je bilo naenkrat pretreseno in se je moralo navaditi na nov način življenja, ki je trajal več kot dve leti. Ker se je virus zelo hitro širil, so morale države po vsem svetu sprejeti več strogih ukrepov, na primer obvezno uporabo zaščitnih mask, karanteno na domu, delo od doma, šolanje od doma, prepoved zbiranja in druženja ljudi na javnih mestih. Zaradi pandemije covida-19 so negativne posledice utrpele vse panoge po vsem svetu, najbolj zdravstvo. Nobena izjema niso centri za socialno delo, tudi ti so se med epidemijo spoprijemali z raznimi etičnimi dilemami in prilagajali svoje delo glede na razmere. Center za socialno delo je javni socialnovarstveni zavod in ima v skupnosti izjemno velik pomen, saj odpravlja in preprečuje stiske posameznikov in družin. Velik pomen v epidemiji covida-19 je imela tudi digitalizacija, saj smo lahko le tako varno poslovali na daljavo, brez osebnega stika in posledično brez nevarnosti za okužbo. Namen diplomskega dela je bil seznanitev s tem, kako so centri za socialno delo med epidemijo delovali, ali je in kako je digitalizacija vplivala na njihovo poslovanje ter ali so se izdatki socialnih transferjev povečali. Na podlagi intervjujev s strokovnimi delavci in proučevanja strokovne literature in zakonodaje, ki je bila sprejeta med epidemijo, smo ugotovili, da je bilo elektronsko poslovanje med epidemijo pozitivna izkušnja, saj je bilo strankam s tem, da so s centri komunicirale prek elektronskih kanalov, omogočeno, da so lahko nemoteno komunicirale in uveljavljale pravice. S tem načinom poslovanja so se stranke izognile možnosti okužbe, stroškom poštnine, fotokopij in potnim stroškom. Ko so se ljudje informacijsko opismenili, so se na tak način poslovanja navadili in število oddanih vlog se je povečalo. Ugotovili smo tudi, da se v celotnem obdobju epidemije obseg dela centrov ni bistveno povečal. Na povečan obseg izplačil socialnih transferjev nista vplivali samo epidemija in izguba zaposlitve, ampak vsi interventni zakoni, sprejeti v tem času. Navsezadnje na centrih menijo, da so delo dobro opravili. Nihče na takšne razmere ni bil pripravljen, vendar so z interakcijo in sodelovanjem med zaposlenimi svojim uporabnikom pomagali po najboljših močeh.In March 2020, the disease named Covid-19, caused by the new coronavirus SARS- CoV-2, was declared as pandemic. The world’s population was so suddenly shaken and forced to face a new reality that lasted over two years. As the virus spread very quickly around the world, countries all over the world were forced to take several strict measures, such as mandatory wearing of protective masks, quarantine, working from home, schooling from home, and banning gatherings of people in public places. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all industries throughout the world suffered negative consequences, which were felt most in healthcare. Centers for Social Work are no exception, and during the epidemic they also faced various ethical dilemmas and adapted their work according to the situation. The Center for Social Work is a public social welfare institution, which is extremely important in the community, as it eliminates and prevents the hardships of individuals and families. Digitalization was also of great importance in the Covid-19 epidemic, because with its help we were able to do business safely and remotely, without personal contact and consequently without the risk of infection. The aim of the thesis was to familiarize with how Centers for Social Work functioned during the epidemic, if and how digitalization affected their operations and whether social transfer payments have increased. With the help of interviews of professionals and the study of professional literature and the legislation that was adopted during the epidemic, we found that electronic business during the epidemic was a positive experience, because the customers, when they communicated with the centers via electronic channels, were enabled to communicate and exercise rights without interruption. With this way of doing business, customers avoided the possibility of infection, the cost of postage, photocopying and travel costs. When people became information literate, they got used to this way and the number of submitted applications increased. We found that the volume of work in the centers did not increase significantly. For increased volume of social transfer payments was not to blame the epidemic and job losses, but mainly all the intervention laws that were passed at that time. Nevertheless, the centers feel that they did a good job. None of us were prepared for such a situation, but with the help of interaction and cooperation between the employees, they helped their users to the best of their ability