By Rentia Mahoney
Measure your own work efficiency and productivity. Ensure you are the best you that you can be. Invest in yourself.
There are many ways and many approaches that may get you there. In this article, I want to touch on the most pressing aspect of working after the Covid pandemic.
Most workers have experienced working from home. Some people had a laptop on their lap and operated from bed.
However, the initial freedom has come and gone. It is now time to shape up and take responsibility for your career. In my household, we are five people who started operating from home.
In South Africa, long after the peak of the pandemic, we are still experiencing excruciating load shedding.
Many companies have started to recall staff to their offices. While that is understandable, from the Covid pandemic point of view, it does not take into account the required transition to cleaner energy resources.
Sitting in traffic for two or more hours a day is just so unproductive. Not to mention the burning of fossil fuel in traffic gridlock while trying to get to a net zero Co2 emission target.
Trying to get off the Grid is easier said than done, yet there are some small adjustments one can make that go a long way.
You can impress your boss by setting up a home environment that allows you to stay connected, remain productive despite load shedding and enable you to deliver.
It may look daunting at first, but look at how you buy a car. You probably do not even open the car bonnet when you buy a new car (I am embarrassed to admit this happened to me recently). You just trust the brand and get on with using the vehicle, and you do not query or sweat over the details of the specifications. You do not have to understand everything.
While you may think laying out R11 000 on a home office facility is a lot of money, you do not think twice buying a car of R200 000 or more. See this as an investment in yourself, just like a diploma or degree to which you enrol. If you have roomies or other family members, let them all chip in to make it even better.
Based on my own experience, I urge every person that needs to keep their job and needs to perform to ensure that they are as efficient at home and even more than they would have been at the office.
What does it take, and what is the cost involved in setting up an efficient workplace at home?
First and foremost, you need a laptop, preferably a modern one that can make use of Bluetooth, a USB connection port and has a recent Microsoft Office program, say MS Office 365, loaded.
The next thing you need is a fast, reliable internet connection, with upload and download speeds of 50MB per second.
Load Zoom and MS teams or other applications for virtual meetings.
Make sure you know how to invite people for a meeting, and they know how to attend meetings. Ensure you know how to share your screen with participants.
Obviously, it is absolutely essential that you also need a decent smartphone with airtime and sufficient data. This is no pain, and it brings freedom, and you get the world to you and you to the world.
There is no pain, only gain, and it is exciting to be part of the new generation.
For the purpose of this article, I assume the reader already has this.
Now we get to the part that will be the difference-maker between you and your peers.
Beg or borrow the money to invest in an inverter, and say, two batteries to keep you connected during load shedding.
The inverter should cost no more than R4 000, and in addition, you will need two batteries, each costing approximately R3 000.
The total cost should be R11 000, and you are ready to take on load shedding level 4.
This system drives four computers, some lights and the UPS for the internet. Consider this investment in the context that it would serve you well for more than ten years.
The ultimate step is to add two or three solar panels and connect them to the system, but that is an extra luxury. Provided that we stay within level four load shedding, you and your household will be productive.
Once you have set yourself up at home, you are the owner of a small business hub, which you can sub-rent out to neighbours, other small business owners, and students in your area. The possibilities and opportunities are endless. There are a host of free online courses which you can offer to the people in your vicinity at a small fee.
It could be an innovative idea to offer a coffee and sandwich to patrons, and soon you may have created a much more integrated business hub.
You may have started small just to empower yourself, but it can easily grow beyond your own needs as you have your own Internet café. You can offer the people in your area online interviews for jobs, and the possibilities just grows and grows.
In this new world, you are your own boss. Be a tough boss, demand a minimum eight productive hours at home. No one will check, but you will know and see the results.
Do not restrict your job opportunities to the area you live in.
Fast, reliable connectivity puts you in the office of the guy in Sandton, Cape Town, Dublin, New York or London. You are just one click away.
* Rentia Mahoney is an Independent Analyst
BUSINESS REPORT