{"id":562196,"date":"2024-10-17T18:49:57","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T16:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=562196"},"modified":"2024-10-17T18:50:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T16:50:53","slug":"south-african-companies-saying-goodbye-to-work-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/enterprise\/562196-south-african-companies-saying-goodbye-to-work-from-home.html","title":{"rendered":"Mobile networks saying goodbye to work from home in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s major telcos are slowly asking employees to return to the office, especially those in tech and client-facing roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Amazon’s decision to recall its hybrid working policy, MyBroadband contacted South Africa’s mobile networks to find out what their remote work policies are and whether they were a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all businesses except those deemed essential were forced to adopt a remote working policy where employees worked from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the national lockdown dragged on, these work policies became more permanent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a survey<\/a> conducted by PageGroup, roughly 63% of South African-based professionals said that their productivity increased while working from home, compared to 31% who said their productivity remained the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africans also didn’t seem to be low on motivation. Fifty per cent said they felt even more motivated, while 41% said nothing had changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of these positive adjustments to remote working, many companies kept their work-from-home policies or shifted to hybrid work once lockdown restrictions were lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hybrid working policy allows employees to work remotely, however requires them to be in the office for a certain number of days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was reflected in the PageGroup survey which showed that 83% of respondents expected one of the most significant outcomes of the pandemic to be that companies implement flexible working policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This saw employees work part of the workweek in the office and part of the time remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telkom told MyBroadband that it adopted a hybrid work policy in September 2022, allowing employees to work at home on Monday and Friday and in the office from Tuesday to Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this does not apply to employees working in the company’s technical field or client-facing roles, who must be in the office full-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telkom said this hybrid work policy creates a balance for employees. In-office days allow for collaboration and problem-solving, whereas work-from-home days allow for deep, focused work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OfferZen co-founder Brett Jones predicted that, in 2025, software developers will also be spending more time in the office because companies are seeking pro-hybrid candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could be for the same reason Telkom requires in-office days: increased collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that providing flexibility to suit employees’ needs is part of its employee value proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of this, tech teams are still required to spend all working hours in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The results from the MichaelPage Africa remote working survey in South Africa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MTN has a similar work policy, which, when implemented during Covid-19, allowed employees to work from home except for one day when they had to be in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the company said it changed this at the beginning of the year, requiring employees to come into the office for one, three, or four days a week, depending on the level of engagement needed for their role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Cell C employs what it calls a flexible working guideline, which it recently introduced to accommodate diverse employee needs, promote inclusivity, and a healthy work-life balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mobile operator told MyBroadband that, rather than having an official hybrid working policy, it allows its employees to request flexitime, remote work, or time off for a limited period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexitime allows employees to adjust their work schedules to better accommodate personal commitments, and time off is the ability to limit periods off to address personal needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C said it is also busy piloting an unlimited leave benefit for its executives, which, if successful, will be extended to the rest of its employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mobile operator said this model tends to its employees’ needs for flexibility without compromising their performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tech and client-facing roles are slowly being required to spend more time in the office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341175,"featured_media":565655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57364],"tags":[355,42,63947,109],"class_list":["post-562196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enterprise","tag-cell-c","tag-mtn","tag-remote-working","tag-telkom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562196"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":565832,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562196\/revisions\/565832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}