SA employees are sticking to hybrid work

Work from home was a necessity during the Covid lockdown, and it showed that knowledge workers could maintain productivity levels surrounded by their families, pets and creature comforts.

Since then, corporations have made a concerted effort to get people back in the office, touting the benefits of in-person interactions and consistent immersion in company culture.

As a counterpoint, many employees have advocated for hybrid solutions, and workplace flexibility has become a leading factor in attracting and retaining talent.

“It turns out that hybrid work is surprisingly sticky among South African mid- to top-end earners. Traditionally, work from home has mostly been the preserve of those who are self-employed,” says Brandon de Kock, BrandMapp’s director of storytelling.

“There are, of course, jobs that are strictly bound to the workplace such as healthcare practitioners, manufacturing and hospitality employees, and retail store managers, but many knowledge workers and corporate managers can do a lot of their work just as well from home. It seems that the pandemic gave many more people the opportunity to experience work from home, and a lot of them like it.”

BrandMapp first measured the work from home trend in 2022 and found that a staggering 56% of employed adults were either still permanently working from home or going into the office part time.

“A year on, there’s barely any shift, only 47% of employed adults are back in their workplaces full time and 54% are either following the hybrid work trend or working permanently from home,” says de Kock.

So, who are SA’s hybrid workers?

The 35,000 respondents in the recently released BrandMapp 2023 represent the 13-million adults who live in homes with more than R10,000 monthly household income. That is typically defined as “mid-market-and-up” and comprises the country’s entire taxpaying base.

“When we take a closer look at who today’s hybrid workers are, we again see barely any change at all over 2022. Executive level employees are more likely to be hybrid workers and the only differential of note is that if you don’t manage anyone, you are more likely to have to heed the latest call to return to the office,” says De Kock.

It’s not the same across SA provinces

Diverse industries power the economies of SA’s provinces and, where there are greater concentrations of knowledge workers, it seems there are more opportunities for work from home and hybrid work.

Working from home is most common in Gauteng and the Western Cape which, along with the Free State, also rank highest for hybrid work.

In provinces such as Mpumalanga and Limpopo, where industries such as mining, agriculture and forestry dominate, workers are more likely to be back full time.

“Given the strong urging for workers to get back to the office, it’s significant that BrandMapp 2023 has revealed barely any change in hybrid work in South Africa. It’s possible that work environments have changed forever, and this has an impact on workday transit and traffic, shopping occasions, frequenting of restaurants and takeaway outlets as well as other lifestyle and social habits,” says De Kock.

BrandMapp 2023 insights are available directly from the BrandMapp team at WhyFive Insights and by subscription via Telmar, Softcopy, Nielsen and Eighty20. 

For data access, email Julie-anne@whyfive.co.za 

Visit WhyFive  for an overview of what’s in the new data.

This article was sponsored by BrandMapp.