As Covid-19 forces more and more companies to adopt a working from home (WFH) policy, it’s likely to become a future workplace strategy - which means measuring performance differently.
“We can’t manage - or measure - employees now by their presence at work,” says Lindiwe Sebesho, Master Reward Specialist and Exco Member at the South African Reward Association (Sara).
While most managers have always understood that the key to success is defining clear outcomes for their teams, the current environment has put emphasis on the need to trust that employees will do what is required to deliver the right outcomes, according to Sebesho.
While performance-based rewards will have to be re-structured to sustain the motivation that remote workers may need – there also needs to be a review of benefits that will enhance the support that employees who work from home should receive, in her view.
These include connectivity allowances rather than the traditional cellphone allowance to enable employees to access the data solutions required for the increased use of digital platforms – as well as broader factors such as the cost of physical office infrastructure.
According to Sebesho, a Swiss court recently ordered an employer to pay part of the rent of a former employee who had worked from home, even though there had been no agreement to do so.
“Corporates look set to reap significant benefits from WFH: increased productivity and greater employee retention are two, but over the longer term they could reduce the money spent on office space and the extra costs that come with real estate,” she says.
“They need to share these benefits with employees.”