{"id":642537,"date":"2026-04-23T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=642537"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:06:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T11:06:58","slug":"south-african-developers-say-they-will-take-a-pay-cut-for-one-specific-work-benefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/software\/642537-south-african-developers-say-they-will-take-a-pay-cut-for-one-specific-work-benefit.html","title":{"rendered":"South African developers say they will take a pay cut for one specific work benefit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For most software developers in South Africa, flexible work outweighs pay increases when evaluating a role, according to OfferZen\u2019s State of SA\u2019s Developer Nation 2026 report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recruitment platform surveyed its 40,000-member community during February 2026, with 3,500 people responding to its questionnaire and 2,270 responses deemed valid for analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It found that 57% of developers said they valued remote work and flexible working hours more than pay increases. This preference grows stronger with experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, fully remote work is losing momentum across Cape Town and Johannesburg, despite remaining highly valued by developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OfferZen\u2019s data showed that remote and hybrid work had become the norm in South Africa\u2019s developer market, with only 15% of developers working full-time from an office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only about 10% of developers said they received support for home-office equipment, such as desks, ergonomic chairs, monitors, and reliable Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report showed that developers would trade office perks, such as team meals and birthday gifts, for more control over how work fits into their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexible working hours were especially important, with 79% of developers saying they valued control over their working time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This placed flexible hours close to remote and hybrid work, which 92% of developers wanted. According to OfferZen, hybrid and remote work were no longer perks but the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time away from work was another important factor, with developers typically receiving 16-25 days of paid leave per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many developers still wanted more time off, with 31% stating that they wanted unlimited leave. Interestingly, 12% of developers reported having unlimited paid time off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OfferZen said fully remote work was losing momentum in Cape Town and Johannesburg, though developers still strongly valued workplace flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report showed that work-from-anywhere arrangements were gradually giving way to hybrid models that placed greater emphasis on in-person collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannesburg was leading this shift, with 60% of companies requiring employees to spend time in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town remained the more flexible hub, despite a slight decline in fully remote roles compared with previous data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mother City had the lowest share of fully office-based companies, at 9%, making it more attractive to developers who valued flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Cape Town, 54% of companies were hybrid, 37% were fully remote, and 9% were office-based. In Johannesburg, 60% of companies were hybrid, 28% were fully remote, and 13% were office-based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One anonymised survey respondent said companies were increasingly insisting that employees return to the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRemote work for those who prefer it is a huge motivator when choosing jobs,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another anonymised respondent said remote work and flexible hours helped them work when they were most productive. \u201cThat is not always between 8 and 5,\u201d the respondent said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report found that the preference for flexibility was stronger among more experienced developers, who were more likely to value autonomy over higher pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among senior developers, 55% said they valued flexible work more than a pay increase, compared with 37% among junior developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech leads and executives also placed high value on flexibility, with 51.1% and 53.1% respectively agreeing that they preferred it over higher pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For companies hiring senior developers, OfferZen\u2019s findings suggested that flexible work policies remained a key factor in competing for experienced technical talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it was interesting to consider developers\u2019 desire for flexible work with the stated need for mentorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 10% of developers said they were receiving mentorship programmes or career coaching, whereas 29% said they considered it a most-desired perk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ranked mentorship fourth among the perks developers wanted, right behind unlimited paid time off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If developers received flexible working hours and more senior developers worked remotely, it follows that mentorship and tacit knowledge transfer become increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iOCO vs Webafrica<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Rhys Summerton, iOCO CEO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two visible extremes in South Africa\u2019s ICT sector regarding work-from-home are the managed services company iOCO and the Internet service provider Webafrica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webafrica recently told MyBroadband that it would keep its fully remote work model. Webafrica chief commercial officer Greg Wright also encouraged other South African businesses to embrace work-from-home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring this difficult period when fuel prices are sky high, and consumers are feeling the pinch, employers should consider work-from-home,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, iOCO CEO Rhys Summerton recently said the company had ended remote work and returned all staff to the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have returned everybody to the office, so work from home at iOCO is a thing of the past. We now work from work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summerton said the move had delivered productivity benefits, which helped the company improve its operational performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyond a certain salary, South African software developers said freedom and flexibility were worth more than money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":642552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[41209,42346],"class_list":["post-642537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software","tag-offerzen","tag-state-of-the-developer-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642537"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642537"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642723,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642537\/revisions\/642723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}