CAPE TOWN - Many of us may be asking if work has changed forever, and will we ever return to work in the office?
While in the short term, remote working was an effective measure to help combat the Covid-19 pandemic, over the long term, the impact of having workforces in separate locations was likely to have more negative consequences than positive, Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) chief executive Tasso Evangelinos said on Friday.
This followed the release on the same day of a survey by global recruiter Robert Walters, which showed that 47 percent of South African managers believe their employees may be at risk of burnout, following a change in work pattern or behaviour bought on by Covid-19.
The CCID recently polled businesses in the CBD and found that 25 percent of employees of those businesses were already back in office, while 80 percent indicated they would reoccupy their offices by year end,
Evangelinos said while technology had allowed for productive home-based work, this was no replacement for the office.
“Working from home goes against human nature in many ways. Firstly, there is loneliness. The office offers laughs, sharing, caring, problem solving, support – all of which are extremely important to humans, we are social creatures. For many of us, the impact of solo working is already starting to be felt. The novelty of not having the commute is starting to be replaced by a need to move, have somewhere to go in the morning, someone to talk to – the need for a change of scenery,” he said.
A survey by Giant Leap, one workplace consultancy firm, revealed that 86 percent of people wanted to go back to working in an office.
While remote work was initially very popular, people slowly realised that there was a lack of work life balance. People also reported feelings of isolation and difficulties in carrying team tasks, with many missing their co-workers.
This correlated with a www.weforum.org finding that the second biggest struggle for remote workers was loneliness. Issue number one is unplugging after work, as boundaries blur and clients keep emailing well past the 5’ o'clock mark.
Evangelinos also believed that the workplace was critical to innovation, and companies thrive when they evolve and reinvent themselves.
“With the disconnect that comes from everyone being separated, it is hard to imagine that innovation will thrive.”
Another negative impact of working from home was the difficulty of transferring skills remotely.
BUSINESS REPORT