July 2008

Companies need to think smart as petrol price hikes bite

With the price of petrol rising more than 40% this year many companies are going to have to find ways to retain staff as they opt to travel less to their workplace, opting, instead, to seek employment nearer to home, said Karen Geldenhuys, MD of ICT-focused recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment.

“One of our large Johannesburg-based clients has decided to open offices in Pretoria after it found that a number of its staff living in Pretoria were resigning and were opting to work for Pretoria-based companies. In order to retain experienced staff they decided to open offices in Pretoria, rather then losing more staff. This is something that companies are going to have to look at – even if they are only satellite offices.”

Geldenhuys said there has been a lot of talk about allowing certain staff members to work from home at certain times in order to boost productivity, improve working conditions and cut down on traveling time. But, with the rash of petrol hikes companies need to look beyond “the concept of the remote worker”, said Geldenhuys.

“Companies should not just complain about the current petrol price -they should accept that it is here to stay – and may even go up. Besides getting staff members to plan things like sales trips more effectively in order to keep company petrol bills down, companies should grasp this opportunity to make working conditions better for staff. They should set up their IT infrastructure so, where possible, more staff can work from home. And, where they have a number of staff working in other cities, they should consider setting up offices, or work nodes, in order to retain staff. Those companies that can continue to retain staff in these hard times are the ones that are going to prosper,” she said.

Besides ensuring that companies retain staff, additional business hubs could be created – which is good news for the economy as a whole. “This trend could bolster business in many local areas – even areas that are currently seeing less business activity. If there is a growth in companies setting up offices – even smaller offices – in smaller towns, this could spark improved business times for these areas.”

But there are other ways to ‘bat smarter’ during the current pressing economic environment.

Christopher Riley, the MD of notebook and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company (www.notebook.co.za), said that the rise in petrol prices – as well as increasing traffic congestion – should compel companies to more seriously consider the concept of the remote worker. “With the congestion on our highways – and with the punitive cost of petrol - the idea of companies employing remote workers should certainly gather more steam. Certain types of employees don’t have to clock in at 8.30 am and leave at 5pm, fighting traffic for two hours of the day just to do so. Those that fulfill tasks that don’t require them to be desk-bound - and those employees that are disciplined and dedicated- should be able to work remotely, even from home offices. This is something that is going to have to increase in the future, or else workers will literally be spending half of their working day in cars – and will be paying an arm and a leg for the ‘pleasure’.

“Even if the car of the future enables workers to send e-mail, communicate with hands-free voice technology and even run some form of video conferencing, this type of gee-whiz in-car technology will never be entirely safe. The bottom-line is that a driver should not be distracted when driving. And petrol prices will make still be a negative factor.”

Webcam video conferencing – the next wave

He said that as petrol prices continue to bite, webcam video-conferencing technology is going to be “pushed forward” as one of the next technological waves. “As this technology becomes more ubiquitous prices will naturally fall. This means more remote ‘meetings’ can be held between branch employees, different companies, or individuals from different companies. Because there is visual interaction, the personal side of communication will not be lost. You will be able to see the person, or people, you are talking to- so it will almost be like a face-to-face meeting. Even smaller businesses will be able to afford this technology – and it will go a long way towards boosting their productivity and saving on time and money-consuming travel to and from meetings.