Work from home must be done better this time, says expert

With the big jump in fuel prices, some governments have taken work-from-home measures or shortened the work week. Could a similar approach help South Africans?

CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit spoke to Karen Lowe, Director at 4 Day Work Week.

She believes that this time we're heading into a collision between an economic reality and traditional management thinking.

Lowe pointed out that the first wave of remote work was driven by Covid because of health. "This second wave, with the fuel crisis, is driven by economics which for me, companies can't treat as temporary. We have no idea how long this crisis is going to continue for."

Lowe cautioned against going back to the old ways that we had in Covid. "We saw businesses really struggling with productivity, with a drop in engagement. With a mental health crisis when employees were working from home.

"What do we do this time to ensure productivity remains the same? And at the same time improve what's left at the end of the month in the employees' pockets."

SMMEs are driving the conversations around this now but there are certain industries that are not able to consider it, " Lowe acknowledged.

"It really is a work redesign, business processes re-engineering."

To listen to the full discussion, click the media player below: