City of Joburg approves hybrid work policy ‘to attract and retain the very best talent’

After two years of pandemic living, municipal and government workers are going back to the office, with several entities taking a hybrid approach.

Johannesburg has officially approved such a policy.

MMC for group corporate and shared services Leah Knott said the policy was based on international best practice and intended to increase productivity and employee morale, while reducing costs and the city’s carbon footprint.

“To attract and retain the very best talent, it has become important to recognise the fast-changing global landscape of work/life balance for all employees. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated existing work to achieve these goals and introduced the ‘new normal’ for the entire world,” she said.

Many municipalities have declined the idea and insist it’s “time to get back to work as usual”, while others are contemplating the issue.

Nelson Mandela Bay Development Agency spokesperson Luvuyo Bangazi said a hybrid policy has been proposed, but the issue is “a hairy one” and staff are back at the office full-time for now.

“At our last management meeting it was decided that it’s time for people to get back to the office full-time, obviously apart from those with specific health requirements or lifestyle changes, where those are properly motivated,” he said.

“Covid forced us to adopt ways of working from home, but you can’t do that properly as a municipality where you have blue-collar workers and guys on the ground. We have support and operational interdependencies, for example, the fire department which needs to know what’s happening with water supply and where taps are dry. You can’t have that communication happening easily when there’s nobody at the office,” Bangazi said.

Cape Town spokesperson Priya Reddy said non-frontline workers are allowed to work flexible hours and remotely, provided they meet productivity requirements.

She said this was decided on to position the metro as an employer of choice, while still delivering “the best possible service to our residents”.

Other benefits, she said, include cost optimisation of office space leases, reduced overheads, flexible hours and, as the largest employer in Cape Town, reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions by making commuting unnecessary wherever possible.

Northern Cape spokesperson Monwabisi Nkompela said the provincial government has adopted virtual platforms for meetings to include people from remote areas and those outside government, despite increased data and equipment costs.

“We have returned to the office, but we have a policy of allowing flexible working hours for officials, so we are not operating with 100% workforce yet,” he said.

Vuyo Mhaga, spokesperson for Gauteng, said it has taken the hybrid approach, with many meetings having migrated to Zoom.

“A lot of stuff has changed, but most of our people are back at the office full-time, just with more flexibility,” he said.

In the Eastern Cape there is no hybrid work policy at provincial government level and everyone is back at work, said the premier’s spokesperson Mxolisi Spondo.

North West provincial government spokesperson Brian Setswambung said there has been a 100% resumption in “physical reporting to work by all government employees”.

All government departments follow department of public service and administration (DPSA) guidelines, as it is the entity responsible for HR matters.

“As far as we are concerned, things are back to normal and public servants are all back at the office. We have not got a hybrid work policy but we follow the Public Service Act, which states that the director-general in each department can make independent decisions with regard to staff, in line with health concerns or things like that,” said DPSA spokesperson Moses Mushi.

Lisa Seftel, executive director of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), said while they have not discussed remote work specifically, social partners at Nedlac have agreed to the Code of Good Practice, which requires employers to look at measures to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, with remote work featuring as one of these measures.

The Code of Good Practice: Managing Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in the Workplace, 2022 was gazetted in terms of the Labour Relations Act on June 24. In terms thereof, employers are required to place infected staff on sick leave, pay them while they are off or apply for an illness benefit for them under the Unemployment Insurance Act in cases where their leave benefits are depleted.

Employees who contract Covid-19 and have evidence that this happened through the course of their work are entitled to make a workman’s compensation claim.

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