Remote Working: The new "normal"

Our world has seen and gone through so much this past couple of months. Individually, there have been some significant results both negative and positive and I believe every inhabitant of this earth have had their own share in this occurrence.

We have done so well I must say in most of the practical things we did for and to each other in order to protect ourselves and keep each other alive. Most countries all over the world decided if even against their wish for one reason or the other that it was better for citizens to stay locked in their homes to stay protected. Whiles those who begun have had significant results are still keeping to it, I cannot say that for my home country. Many have lost their lives, jobs, families, livelihoods and all. Others continue to thrive through these trying times.


Some employers made very bold and difficult decisions which affected employees and stakeholders either positively and or negatively. Those who were able, were provided with means to work from their homes in order to keep the company running. This I believe is an area that is new to most of us in this country (Ghana) and perhaps some other parts of the world. I would like to believe that those who attempted this new normal way of working despite the initial challenges were able to get some positive results from it. Whiles the company benefits since one still put in man hours and get the tasks done, you also get the chance to be with and spend some time with your families no matter how little it is. In the end, tasks are completed, targets are met, no excuses such as tardiness, family emergencies, personal emergencies etc. as you would normally hear and have to deal with as an employer.

My loud thoughts on this is, if the employees that worked from home during the period of lock down were able to deliver as expected with no excuses whatsoever, is it really very necessary for them to quickly rush back to work (the building) even though there is a high possibility that it is not safe out there? As an employer, are there measures, if any that you have put in place to ensure that your employees and you are safe back in the building? For most of these employees, commuting from home to the work building is a threat on its own looking at all they have to go through. The people they come in contact with before getting to the building and the people they come into contact with in the building. Take this, if I as an employee board a public transport with 10 other passengers and 5 other colleagues go through same, we have been in contact with 60 different people just the morning. How do you know if any of these 60 strangers are careers of the virus or not. This cycle goes on for a week which gives 300 contacts from 6 employees. If your employees are more, the higher the contact and these same people interact in the office building on daily basis. They may observe the safety measures and all but you never can tell. Are we doing more harm than good? I believe that is what we should think through as a people even as we are out there.

My personal opinion however is that, it is high time that those businesses who are capable should really consider having some of their stuff work from home. Once the selected staff are effective and up to task, employers should definitely consider. Since money is one of the necessary factors that comes to mind in such talks, there are a lot of ways that both employer and employee can benefit from this action. Let’s take a look at a few.
  • Less employees in the office building means less space
  • Less space means reduction in expenses (rent, bills, stationery etc.)
  • No more fuel and or transportation allowances
  • No more breakfast or lunch etc.
  • The ultimate will be increase revenue which can be used in different ways to benefit the company and employees.

There are various ways to look at this as you read depending on which side of the table you are. If we agree we are in a technological era and technology is catching up with us, why not grasp and hold on to this to explore all the positive and significant values it offers. It will be great to hear your thoughts on this too. Let us continue to keep to the preventive measures and stay safe. If it is not an emergency and you are home, please stay at home.


I am Ivy Zelda A. Yeboah, I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from UPSA and Social Media Marketing from Northwestern University. I have lots of experiences in customer service, Marketing, SEO and Social media. I work as a Facilitator in an institution, a freelance Consultant in Social media Marketing, (The Royal Gem Enclave), an entrepreneur and previous experiences as a  manager in a contact center/ customer service for Telecommunication and media companies.  Feel free to contact me  LinkedIn on http://bit.ly/2fVXNlY (Ivy Akosua Yeboah)
Twitter handle @Zeldayeb (Ivy Akosua Yeboah)
Tumblr - Zelda-us     Facebook/ Instagram/ Twitter - theroyalgroupc

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