Dr. Martin Mwanje Lwanga
Chris was an employee of a major software firm in the US. Whereas his home was in Wheaton suburb his work station was based in Chicago. To get to his job it required him getting up early, drive for 15 minutes to the train station, and catch the tube that took an hour to get to downtown. Thereafter he had to take a Uber, another 15 minutes drive, to his workplace. He was spending over 2 and half hours daily on the road.
Fortunately Chris had a listening boss. In spending all that time on the road not only was he less productive due to the energy he was draining but also there was increased risks to his health and safety. If he broke down the company was equally liable. The matter was brought to the attention of his boss.
“I can deliver on all my assignments while working from home,” Chris suggested.
After some hesitation as to how to ensure work was being done it was agreed to put in place measures of accountability. The company allowed Chris to shift his office to his home so as to save all that time on the road. He has since been doing that for over a year and consistently meeting his targets. More importantly he enjoys his job far much better which he was about to quit and he now lives a far more healthier lifestyle.
In the wake of post COVID-19 we are going to see more workers based at home. This was already taking place in the more developed word as illustrated in the case above. Even here in Uganda we are bound to see more companies coming to terms that there is no big loss when some of its work force are left to work from home so long as appropriate measures are put in place to ensure they deliver on their job expectations.
One reason for this will have to do with costs. A friend of mine who runs a legal firm found he had outgrown his working place but realized that to extend in the same building would multiply his costs. What he decided was to ask his associates to work from home and appear as and when required. The firm sends them assignments which they work on and do deliver per agreed terms.
Another reason has to with health and safety of staff. Just as we see in the above case there are risks firms are putting on those workers who have to travel at great lengths to get through dangerous traffic to and fro office to work on assignments which they could have concentrated on back home.
Indeed, there have been cases where arising out of this added burden injured workers have sued their organizations for causing grievous harm. To save future litigation some organizations are encouraging staff to stay and work from home.
What has made working from home more feasible is because unlike before the tools are now available. A friend based in the UK who now works for three days at home has shared that they use various tools such as Microsoft outlook which is synced with Skype and can generate one’s calendar for the day. The day starts with agreeing with the boss on deliverables.
When you are in a call it is visible to all that you’re at your duty station and engaged. There are traffic lights that have been installed on the system to show staff is at his duty station or not. In this system the ultimate onus of responsibility lies with the staff. If such is always falling behind on the agreed targets then he has to be made accountable why the organization must continue to maintain him on payroll while not delivering. “As you see the onus is on you the virtual worker to know that communication is the key and you have to take the initiative as there is no policing time for managers because they too have deadlines.”
The post COVID-19 era where almost all business will have to deal with reducing costs challenges us to think of new and innovative ways to manage staff. Virtual management is certainly an area we can longer avoid.
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