Why working from home could become daily norm

Lewis Njoka @LewisNjoka

Covid-19 pandemic could have given a lifeline to firms eyeing an opportunity to cut costs as working from home becomes the new normal. Several multinationals with a local presence have embraced the idea of employees working from home, cutting off the need to rent expensive office spaces, in what could be a permanent move, thanks to the pandemic.

American commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE Group, Erickson and General Electronic (GE) is among those considering this option while others like Housing Finance Company of Kenya and Konza City are embracing the working from home concept.

Hinting at the possibility of reopening the economy last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta said every Kenyan would have to take responsibility to prevent the spread of the highly infections virus which has infected more than 5.4 million people globally and claimed more than 344,000 lives.

“We will not continue with the lockdown and the curfew. I have told health officials and my ministers that they should start telling Kenyans that we cannot be under a curfew or lockdown forever,” he said.

Uhuru said the obligation would shift to Kenyans who will have to take individual responsibility to minimise the spread of the virus.

“You have a responsibility to ensure you protect yourself, you should know that if you don’t obey the measures, you are not only endangering yourself, but those around you,” he asserted while delivering his seventh national address on the progress made in containing the virus.

Kenya has been in partial lockdown for the last two months, characterised by a dusk-to-dawn curfew amid restricted movement into some regions and partial closure of some businesses.

Anthony Kariuki, an engineer working for one of the multinationals Nairobi, says his company has already helped employees set up home offices, eliminating the need to visit the physical office.

Employees also receive some money on top of their salary to facilitate their relocation to a bigger house and convert additional space into an office.

“It is something that has been in the pipeline for a while now but we could not implement it because we were not sure of staff discipline.

But now with Covid-19, we have come to find out that it is something that can be done,” said Kariuki.

“They connect you to the company network, attach a printer for you and give you company laptops.

If you need to do a lot of tele-conferencing they also install on your machine some high-tech conferencing tools,” said Kariuki.

Physical office

Working from home has allowed the company to occupy less floor space saving on rent and other expenses associated with a physical office, according to Kariuki.

The multinational has also re-organised the physical office, converting more space into meeting and conference rooms as opposed to sitting spaces for employees.

“It is working well for the company because at the end of the day, employees are happier, you do not waste time commuting and people take fewer sick days,” said Kariuki.

Even homegrown companies have adopted a model similar to that of GE with a leading media house having allowed its editors and reporters access company platforms to work from home.

World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the virus may never go away and called on people to learn to live with it.

“It is important to put this on the table: This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away.

I think there are no promises in this and no dates,” said WHO emergencies chief, Michael Ryan.

 A recent survey by human resource firm, Corporate Staffing, found that employers plan to continue with the work-from-home culture even after the pandemic, a major shift from the conventional workplace setup.

However, most bosses, as per the report, are uncomfortable with their juniors working from home during the pandemic citing trust issues between workers and their bosses and lack of supervision as the main impediments to remote working.

Samson Osero, a HR consultant, says the working-from-office setup could be on its way out.

“With the technology advancements we have, the future of the office is threatened especially when people can work from home for certain professions.