South African companies have taken widely divergent approaches to their work-from-home polices as the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns recede into memory.

While some have embraced the remote work culture, others have adopted a hybrid approach in an effort to strike a balance between the social benefits of in-person interactions and the freedom of remote contribution.

There are also companies for which remote work has not worked, forcing the recall of all employees to the office.

“The Covid-19 lockdowns accelerated our adoption of flexible working arrangements, prompting MTN to formalise a hybrid work policy,” said a spokesman for MTN South Africa.

“During the lockdown period, we enabled the majority of our employees to work remotely by rapidly scaling digital collaboration tools, strengthening our network infrastructure and putting in place measures to safeguard our people and customers while continuing to deliver on our commitment which was crucial as an essential services provider.”

During 2020, more than 38% of the active qualifying workforce in South Africa were working remotely compared to 4% in the pre-pandemic period, according to the SA Journal of Human Resource Management.

Lessons

Those companies whose operations are less reliant on a physical presence had a smoother transition going into the lockdowns. Indeed, remote work was no novel phenomenon among software developers, whose ability to deliver on projects is rarely tied to their location. However, other sectors, including frontline healthcare workers and the services industries, sit at the opposite extreme since human interaction is key to what they provide.

Standard Bank told TechCentral it managed to migrate 75% of its workforce to working remotely during the lockdowns, and while many adjustments in technology and attitudes had to be made, the biggest challenge the bank faced was onboarding new employees into the workforce, especially at the graduate level.

Read: Majority of South African IT talent prefers to work from home

“Integrating new hires was a key challenge. This was exacerbated for our graduates who were joining new environments and needing to learn new skills. Companies that are not able to track their productivity beyond ‘visibility at the office’ face challenges, and our leaders were required to lead differently,” said Standard Bank.

Organisations and employees gained new insights into the nature of their work and their companies during this period. Some employees, teams and departments increased productivity when given more freedom, while for others, productivity declined.

Some businesses questioned the size of their offices, wondering if the cost of buildings, furniture and power spent on running physical offices was justified given how effective working from home was for their organisations. For others, company culture suffered as the daily interactions that unified their teams along a common purpose were no longer possible.

“Key lessons from this period included the importance of digital readiness, deep human collaboration, the value of trust-based performance and the need to support employees’ mental health alongside operational delivery,” said MTN South Africa.

These experiences shaped how different companies responded to the easing of lockdown restrictions and the subsequent return to work. For some, the need to return to the office was more immediate than others.

“Rain was one of the first companies in South Africa to bring everyone back to the office 100%. We strongly believe that collaboration, innovation and culture thrive best when people interact face to face,” said Rain CEO Conrad Leigh. “We work in person, full-time, across the organisation.”

Others, like MTN and Standard Bank, have adopted a hybrid approach. Hybrid working models typically mandate a number of days a week that people have to come into the office while still giving employees the flexibility to work remotely at least half the time. Although the hybrid approach tries to give organisations and their employees the best of both worlds, it is not always possible to have the same policy apply to all employees and across all departments.

Read: Developers increasingly being asked to return to the office

“While the overarching principles apply across the group, specific arrangements may differ between business units, countries or roles based on local regulatory requirements, customer-facing needs or the nature of the work,” said MTN. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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