The growing intensity of load shedding in South Africa is forcing many companies to bring their employees back to the office, but the rising fuel price is making it impossible for them to afford the commute.
Even without load shedding, corporates around the world are insisting their staff return to the office, either for all, of part, of the work week, but in this country, there is the added push factor of load shedding.
Many remote workers do have back-up power options at home to mitigate the effects of load shedding, but the growing levels of power cuts are taking their toll on these devices, making working conditions difficult for both employers and employees; It is the perfect storm for companies that do not support the work-from-home trend as it gives them good reason to insist it be abandoned, at least in part.
The problem though, is that even if staff wanted to return to the office, many just cannot afford the drive there and back – and this was before this week’s hefty fuel price hike.
For the past three months, software analyst Luke de Bruyn*, who was working from home since the Covid-19 pandemic, has chosen to work in the office two days a week, along with a few of his colleagues. These days give them the opportunity to work together on team projects without the disconnect of communicating through a computer screen or over the phone. However, since this week’s petrol price hike, he can no longer afford the 100km commute two days a week.
“This latest petrol price increase is going to make it impossible for me to keep working in the office on these two days each week. Even before this week, being able to afford to travel 50km a day there and back was difficult, but I made it work because I needed to have that interaction with my colleagues.
“Now though, I don’t think I have that choice anymore.”
He says traffic congestion is another problem as, even though the freeways are not as busy as they were before the work-from-home trend came into play, the commute is hindered by stop-start traffic flow on most days, which also impacts his petrol consumption.
Another worker, Jenna Corbin*, told IOL that she may need to resign from her job if her company insists on a return to the office.
“At the moment we are all working from home but there is talk in the background of possibly starting to work in the office for two or three days a week. I don’t have any problem with a hybrid working routine but I honestly cannot afford the cost of transport there and back.
“The cost of living has gone up since Covid and our salaries have not, so I am sure I am not the only one in this position.”
If her company does insist on a partial return to the office, she will have to “seriously consider” looking for another job that either allows her to work from home full-time, or at least pays a bigger salary so she can afford to commute.
“It is a worry at the moment but the reality is that it is largely out of my hands. I can only do what I can do.”
The other reality is that many businesses are struggling in the current economic climate and cannot afford to increase salaries to help their workers afford to travel to the office. The solution then will probably have to be a little bit of innovation and a large amount of compromise.
But there are other factors businesses need to consider. An article on Entrepreneur.com states that mandated returns to the office are having damaging consequences on employers. A trio of reports in the United States – the Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report, the Federal Reserve's Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), and Unispace's "Returning for Good" report — reveal that:
- nearly half (42%) of companies that mandated office returns witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated
- almost a third (29%) of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment
- a staggering 76% of employees stand ready to jump ship if their companies decide to pull the plug on flexible work schedules
FNB senior economist John Loos says companies that are not flexible about their remote working policies are likely to suffer negative consequences as skilled professionals search for greater flexibility in their work locations. Many opportunistic employers will therefore use remote or hybrid working as a carrot to attract top skills.
Ultimately, though, there will need to be some compromise
“There is strong evidence from many surveys across the globe to suggest that flexible work arrangements are very popular amongst employees. This means that a significant portion of skills will search for greater flexibility in their work locations, and there will be many opportunistic employers who will use remote or hybrid working as a carrot to attract top skills.
“The less flexible companies will suffer the consequences.”
* Names changed
IOL Business