Due to self-isolation and an extended national lockdown period, major banks have needed to adapt to remote working while maintaining operational efficiency as an essential service. This has resulted in a perspective shift, with some banks learning that many of their employees are capable of working from home. This will result in major South African banks revisiting their remote working strategies following the COVID-19 pandemic, with many allowing more employees to work from home going forward.
Nedbank said it has seen an increase in productivity during the lockdown period, but also noted that it is more difficult for employees to “switch off”, which may lead to burnout over time. “For staff that are able to work from home, we have generally seen an increase in productivity with decisions being much quicker,” said Nedbank Group HR Executive Deb Fuller.
So interesting trends we are already seeing out of the lockdown. Many legacy style managers have just assumed workers will not do any work when working from home, but do not realise the manner of work is different, and you’ll probably find the same managers had workers in the office who needed to be micro-managed and ‘appeared’ to be working.
See South African banks to let more employees work from home
South Africa’s financial sector has undergone a significant change following the coronavirus outbreak.