Remote work is the modern-day equivalent of the bicycle, automobile and liquid nail polish – great ideas that were shot down in the beginning and eventually turned out to be the bee’s knees.
If there is one thing that the long-winded South African lockdown has taught us, it’s that flexible work is fully possible, whether you choose to work from home, or are forced by a global pandemic to conduct your business via Zoom while your toddler runs around pants-less, hyped up on Oreos and Lollos.
In fact, the leaders of major South African companies have been so impressed with the business results they enjoyed during lockdown that many are considering a blended approach going forward.
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Here are a few of the benefits of remote work businesses like Dimension Data, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and Shoprite Holdings experienced first-hand when the bulk of their employees were forced to work from home during the initial phases of lockdown.
1. Productivity increased
One of the major reasons why South African business leaders prefer to have their employees all in one office space, is the outdated belief that working from home will lead to reduced productivity. However, according to RMB CEO James Formby, this was not the case in their experience.
According to him, they found that their employees were working harder and that it was possible for their employees to be highly productive at home.
This is backed up by the findings of a recent study conducted by Harvard Business School and New York University, which indicated that the average workday had increased by just shy of 50 minutes during the course of the pandemic.
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2. Employees were happier
Chief HR Executive at Dimension Data Michaela Voller said that they found that employees were happier working from home, even though they were dealing with challenges like stress, uncertainty, home-schooling their children and having extended family members move in during the heavier phases of lockdown.
RMB experienced the same thing, citing more time with the family and the avoidance of a daily commute as the main reasons why their employees said they were happier with their lockdown work arrangements and would consider doing it full time.
Read more: 10 Reasons why happy employees are great for business
3. Fewer employee absences
Capitec’s CEO Gerrie Fourie, who was named Business Leader of the Year at the 2019 Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards, said that they found a remarkable reduction in sick days among their employees during lockdown.
According to 2019 projections by Occupational Care South Africa (OCSA), absenteeism costs the South African economy around R12 – R16 billion per year, and the Human Capital Review estimates it to be even higher at R19,144 billion annually. That is the equivalent of 15% of all the employees in South Africa being absent on any given day.
This is a very expensive problem to have. After all, when someone is off ill, you are paying their wages, and often end up paying temporary employees to fill in, while your clients receive inferior services and goods, and morale dips among colleagues who show up.
Currently, sick absenteeism for SA employees sits at around 3.5% to 6%, which is the equivalent of approximately 8 – 15 non-productive days per employee per year. An acceptable level is around 1.5%, which means the R16 -R19 billion SA companies lose to sick days every year is not within bounds.
As such, it’s a big boon for companies like Capitec when their employees work from home and log far fewer sick days. With 2000 people working at head office, they stand to lose 16 000 productive days even if their absentee level is at the lower end of the scale at 3.5%. No wonder they’re excited about the current state of affairs!
Read more: The real effects of absenteeism in the workplace
4. A wider talent pool emerged
According to companies like Shoprite Holdings and Prescient Investment Management, their teams’ increased reliance on technology and remote conferencing have also opened the scope to rope in new talent.
CEO of Prescient Investment Management, Cheree Dyers said that the quick adoption of online collaboration tools has allowed her to widen their talent pool beyond South African borders to rope in specialists like data scientists from further afield. Because their team was already dispersed, there was less friction when this new way of working was introduced during lockdown.
Read more: The pros of working remotely have some serious ROI attached to it
Post-lockdown predictions from the CEOs:
Now that the benefits of remote working are no longer theoretical, but have been seen and experienced in practice by the decision-makers of these major SA businesses, the road ahead looks quite interesting.
Here are the predictions from the roleplayers mentioned above:
Many companies will increasingly opt for blended models that will see employees spending two or three days per week in the office with the remainder spent working remotely.
– James Formby, RMB
The future of our workplace is based on the philosophy that for the vast majority of workers, work is something you do and not somewhere you go.
– Michaela Voller, Dimension Data
We require staff members to be in the office at least three days per week, but COVID-19 has challenged the conventional wisdom that being in the office makes someone productive. You don’t need to see people to see if they’re productive, but you need good leadership and accountability at every level in the organisation.
– Cheree Dyers, Prescient Investment Management
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