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With Covid-19, corporate culture is a thing of past

Tuesday, August 18th, 2020 00:00 | By
Some of the tour drivers waiting for their results for Covid-19 at the Kenya Medical Research institute headquarters Nairobi. Photo/PD/BENARD ORWONGO

In mid-March, a majority of office workers were propelled into a sudden, frenzied experiment of working from home.

Five months later, the experiment shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

In fact, many employers have no otherwise but to keep their staff at home even as the question of productivity continues to linger in the air.

The latest to join the work from home is the media industry. Many news hours have been turned into what they now refer to as ‘home editions’ of the top of the hour news.

Not coincidentally, employers keep pushing back their projected office return dates; rethinking the best strategies that will keep their business viable throughout this pandemic.

What appeared like a test run now seems to be more like the long run.

Last month, Google announced its employees, whose work does not require them to be in the office, would continue to work from home until June 30, 2021.

Amazon will allow its employees to continue working remotely until Jan. 8; it previously had said employees could work from home until October.

Mark Zuckerberg has said he expects half of Facebook’s workforce to be remote within the decade.

In early May, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sent an email to his staff that some of them would continue working from home forever, even after the pandemic’s eventual end.

Here in Kenya, more employers are considering extending work-from-home options for employees until end of the year or even longer as coronavirus cases continue to surge in parts of the country.

‘You live where you work’ has become the new platitude in town, and with the pandemic shutting down the face-to-face economy, it seems poised to enfeeble spatial relationship between work and home.

In fact, a recent survey by Economists at Harvard Business School projected that when the pandemic ends, one in six workers will continue working from home or co-working at least two days a week.

Another survey by IBM found that 54 per cent of employees would prefer to primarily work remotely full time.

In an article in the World Economic Forum, Ravin Jesuthasan says a few organisations will be able to fulfil their workforce’s demands for certainty and stability.

What they can and should promise, though, is clarity and continued relevance in a changing world.

One thing remains clear:  if white-collar workers were told working from office is forever optional, some would take city jobs out of the cities.

The coronavirus is slowly killing the corporate culture. Working from home is no longer a problem to many. In fact, the eight hours working can now be covered between 6:00am to 10:00pm as opposed to the usual 8:00am to 5:00pm.

And the workforce has well-adjusted to this. The question now confronting most employers is not when their employees will get back to the office, but whether they should do so at all.

Though, when offices do return, they may limit themselves, because of state orders or their concerns about preventing employees from getting sick, to a reduced occupancy, of say 40 per cent.

The corporate culture that so many employers value is based on a level of interaction that will not be regained simply by being in the same building, and further, being in the same building with only a fraction of the workforce. Until the pandemic ends, corporate culture is a thing of the past.

While many people in various industries (say manufacturing, retail, transportation, healthcare, and more) cannot practically work from home, the pandemic has shown just how many companies can operate adequately, even successfully, without having all the employees in the same office.

Therefore, those running organisations with employees more or less getting their work done at home, here is the time to listen to that little voice in your head. 

Certainly, office planners are envisioning a new workplace with rigorous cleaning protocols, new cubicle designs, touchless elevators, closure of common spaces, ventilation system, and schedule shifting. 

Meanwhile, it’s time for technology to prevail and help the workforce. Maybe, it is time to embrace the change and possibly, it will be for the better. Who knows? — The writer is a Communications Specialist

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