Ugandan employees should work remotely
Morning traffic jam in Kampala, and certainly in other cities, is a big reminder of the tradition of rushing to small, defined geographical locations for work. The traditional office, a physical facility housing work teams to facilitate coordination of activities, necessitates that team players must each move from their places of abode to congregate in one place and execute their jobs from there.
Thus the morning rush to get to offices every working day, and the evening hassle for workers to get back home in the evenings. It is common for people to leave their homes as early as before six o’clock in the morning and go back after nine o’clock later in the evening. This can have impact on health, as well as on work productivity.
The cost of time incurred in the back and forth routine between home and office is obvious. One can only imagine other costs like vehicle fuel that is burnt every morning and evening to split through traffic jams. This is coupled with the environmental cost occasioned by excessive biofuel combustion that happens with this lifestyle. With the recent outbreak of the contagious Corona Virus, it comes to mind that the office tradition also comes with its one-off, but deep, disadvantages.
Remote work is the practice of working from any place where one is most comfortable to operate from and most productive. It does not require proximity to an office or physical presence with coworkers. It has many advantageous economic rub-offs.
It has been associated with improved productivity and health and also reduces absenteeism while ensuring greater retention of talent and effective recruitment, since hiring is taken from a wider pool unrestricted by geographic constraints, and often fast.
This brings the advantage that experts can be hired from any part of the world. Needless to say, organizations can slash down overhead costs in rent and costs of utilities by adopting remote work models.
There is possibly no better way to guarantee excellent work-life balance for staff than remote work, and people may choose to work from the comfort of their homes, restaurants or any other places that offer the soothing environment they may need to boost moods for work.
They may freely travel and deliver their work output in different parts of the world, even if for example they have chosen to take holidays that they can interrupt for work sessions.
Technology has been such a landmark enabler of the potential for remote work, and many job roles could potentially get executed without necessity of presence in specific office spaces.
For services dominated markets such as Uganda’s case, the model is even more viable. Many work processes in the services sector may be subjected to remote work, with greater ease than for example those in the industry sector. It is actually even feasible to service clients without interfacing with them at all, in many services subsectors. Work in for example financial services, media, hospitality management and many other fields could be well executed with remote work, if clear work frameworks are defined, agreed upon and contracted for by professionals that prefer to work away from office.
Notably, younger workers in the millennials and generation Z category desire more flexible work conditions, a richer work-life balance and greater independence at work.
They want to be able to work from anywhere. Uganda’s especially young population and escalating crowding around Kampala city builds special need for quick adaptation by employers, towards the flexible provisions of remote work.
Remote work, just like any strategic choice requires clear guidelines defined within an organization’s working policies. The specific policy will specify tools and strategies for successfully executing work roles outside office. It must communicate proper coordination and harmony within the team.
It should take care of commitment to working hours, and compensating formalities that replace physical supervision which is traded off – even as such formalities will still be far more liberating, in comparison to traditional office convention.
Uganda can take advantage of remote work, among other reasons, to decongest the city center of human and vehicle traffic on working days.
This can in turn tone down environmental pollution. Organizations can benefit from reduced running costs while workers can as well reduce their routine expenses related to daily mobility.
Remote work can be a great arrangement to tap the energies of Uganda’s youthful work force. If the market evolves and more jobs necessitate work shifts, which is a highly likely trend in developing markets, remote work will come in handy in ensuring operational efficiency of organizations.
Raymond is a Chartered Risk Analyst and risk management consultant
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