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.
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