Virus drive towards working from home

AS OUR LOVE-HATE relationship with acronyms endures, the coronavirus pandemic Covid-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) is popularising WFH (Work from Home).

Remote working has become a reality as companies and organisations pursue continued productivity during these difficult times.

Even before the 21-day national lockdown to promote social distancing in order to flatten the curve of the pandemic, many companies had started advising employees to work from home. So, due to the pandemic, corporate South Africa will change the way we work, perhaps for the better and possibly forever.

For employees, it was clear that they did not know what to expect with this new work-from-home arrangement. Many of us did not anticipate the effect of this epidemic in disrupting family routines, and the implications it would have on our working requirements such as lack of quiet spaces for work activities such as teleconferencing.

The transition to WFH has not been easy. While the rise in internet and digital transformation has been exponential over the past decade, nothing prepared us for the extent and speed with which we would have to transform over the past few weeks. Covid-19 forced us to embrace WFH.

According to research company Gartner, 91% of human resources leaders interviewed in the Asia/Pacific stated that during their peak period of Covid-19 infections, the biggest challenge they faced with working from home stemmed from a lack of technology infrastructure and difficulties adjusting to new ways of working. We too have found this to be true.

As a leader, it’s encouraging to see colleagues embracing the stretch in work relationships and management skills brought about. With more people in a team working from home, communication channels need to be clearer and more frequent among the team members, and certainly from the leader.

We found the challenge of cellphone data prices and growing paucity of landlines among team members made the required levels of two-way communication difficult. Coupled with this, is ensuring that everyone has the same information. Some managers are realising they need to catalyse staff engagement and can’t hide behind interpersonal relationships and rapport to get the team going.

We know trust is crucial for the team to succeed, and managers are needing to rely, now more than ever, on the integrity of their team to ensure productivity levels don’t drop.

To be able to manage remotely, our systems need to be adept in recording all relevant data for effective monitoring of team output.

To juggle family responsibilities and working time preferences, effective work hours differed from person to person, and managers are forced to adjust their assessment schedules to the end of the day or the next morning. This has created an interesting dynamic. Some employees struggle with the lack of physical face time with colleagues, missing the opportunities to ask questions or the pressure release of harmless office banter.

The greatest enabler or restrictor of the WFH transformation is technology and its associated costs.

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