Remote work: Most SA employees don’t want to return to pre-pandemic work models

Research by Kaspersky has found that most South African employees don’t want to return to traditional pre-pandemic work routines and schedules, even after the pandemic passes. This is due to the preference for flexible and remote work over strict routines and full-time office work.

The results come from Kasperky’s global survey of SMB workers across multiple industries.

The survey found that many employees want to keep more flexible ways of working, such as remote working and flexible work hours. Many also support the end of the five-day work week.

South African views on remote work

According to the survey, 78% of workers in South Africa want to rethink pre-COVID-19 ways of working.

“Moving forward, 52% of workers in South Africa want to leave behind the 9-5 working structure — and 36% are ready to see the back of fixed office desks, while 41% want to end the five-day working week,” Kaspersky said in a statement.

In fact, remote working emerged as the third most positive by-product of lockdowns. The most popular choices for respondents were being able to spend more time with family and saving money.

Half of the respondents cited working from anywhere as a positive by-product.

Not needing to commute was also cited as a positive by-product by a third of respondents.

“What we’re now seeing is employees using technology to own a new future, and actively taking the lead in embracing changes in pursuit of greater freedom and flexibility. Companies now have a mandate to adapt and remodel the modern workplace into something more productive, sustainable and malleable,” Alexander Moiseev, Chief Business Officer at Kaspersky says.

However, whether businesses will embrace these more flexible models remains to be seen.

You can read more about Kaspersky’s research on the Kaspersky website.

Feature image: XPS on Unsplash

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