Webafrica, a South African internet service provider, announced it is closing its physical offices to go fully remote.
The decision comes after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the company to opt for a remote working model. The offices have, however, been open to employees since the loosening of lockdown restrictions. The company discovered that even so, many employees still prefer working from home, leaving the company’s offices desolate.
According to Broad Media, the Cape Town offices officially closed on 30 April 2022 and the office in Johanessburg will remain open until February 2023.
“A sizeable proportion of our customers work from home, totally reliant on Webafrica to keep them connected and productive, and as a business, we believe that it is important to put our money where our mouth is. We supply our staff with the same internet connectivity that we offer our customers, and it has kept our company running at an optimal, productive level,” said Sean Nourse, CEO of Webafrica.
The company says that it evaluated the situation and questioned staff as to what their preference is between working from home or going to the office. It found that most workers prefer working from home because it holds more benefits than going to the office. This includes saving up on travelling costs.
“Remote working has exceeded our expectations in terms of employee productivity and the savings our staff gain by not travelling to work,” Nourse said.
“On average, by working from home we save our employees approximately 2.5 hours a day in traffic and with rising petrol costs, remote working drastically reduces the burden of these increases on our staff’s pockets,” Nourse added.
“If remote working can give our staff that extra time to spend with their children or make family responsibilities easier on them, I’d say it’s definitely worth it,” he said.
Nourse pointed out that the employer’s productivity has also gone up by 20% since moving fully remote.
By Zintle Nkohla
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