Tag: social distancing

With the reopening of many more industries in South Africa’s alert level 1, companies – particularly those in the manufacturing and engineering sectors – will have to further prepare for the return of more employees to the workplace.

When planning around COVID-19 was first catapulted into the boardroom of organisations, there was tremendous readiness by most tech companies to adopt this new way of work. For the most part, teams were well equipped with the relevant mobile infrastructure such as laptops, personal smart phones, data/home internet to enable teams to continue working with limited disruption.

COVID-19 cannot take all the blame for the disruptions taking place in the global economy. The pandemic and resultant lockdown simply provided a conduit for highlighting the failings across industries in South Africa, whether that is healthcare, public transport, education, or others.

COVID-19 introduces regulatory and ethical challenges to companies and employees returning to work. Stringent regulations and careful planning define the approaches of organisations and employees returning to the workplace in the pandemic.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise sharply in South Africa, employers will be under increased pressure to ensure that their workers are operating under conditions of safety and protection. Companies are required to ensure their strict compliance with the various Acts and COVID-19 Regulations, including the Occupational Health & Safety Act, Labour Act, Consumer Protection Act, Disaster Management Act and more.

Global equities rallied close to 40% from March lows to post one of the strongest quarters in a decade. The rally was led by the United States (US), perversely the country with the most COVID-19 cases globally, with healthcare and tech stocks up a combined 23%.

Following the endless stream of COVID-19 headlines, extended lockdowns and associated economic hardships, we are all suffering from Armageddon fatigue. It is easy to become pessimistic in the face of the very real challenges we are grappling with.

COVID-19 is a global pandemic, evolving at unprecedented speed and scale. It is creating a universal imperative for governments and organisations to take immediate action to protect their people. Self-quarantine. Social distancing. Community spread. These formerly obscure terms are now everyday words

One of the aspects of the coronavirus has been the sudden evacuation of offices and mass adoption of home working. As a result, some real estate investors believe the working from home experiment that’s taken place during this crisis will lead to a long-term decline in demand for offices.  

South Africa’s telecommunications (telcos) companies need to rapidly evolve by adding additional services for a new mobile working and learning world in order to stay relevant and profitable.  Their legacy business model of telcos which has long sold data and SMS packages to consumers, is no longer enough on its own - a fact that has been brought into stark relief throughout the lockdown period.