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Vol 13 No. 3 of 2020 SDR - COVID-19 Pushing More Government Activities Online Emerging Lessons from the COVID-19 Battlefields 13 Tips and Tricks ...
SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW

SDR
A learning magazine for the Public Service
Vol 13 No. 3 of 2020

   COVID-19 Pushing More
   Government Activities Online
   Emerging Lessons from the
   COVID-19 Battlefields
   13 Tips and Tricks for Working Remotely
Vol 13 No. 3 of 2020 SDR - COVID-19 Pushing More Government Activities Online Emerging Lessons from the COVID-19 Battlefields 13 Tips and Tricks ...
REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICALITIES

                                                                            IO N
                    L E A R NExcel

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     CONSOLIDATING OUR COLLECTIVE
      INTELLIGENCE FOR THE FUTURE
                                    InnovateLearnDeliver

ii      SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 13 No.3 of 2020
Vol 13 No. 3 of 2020 SDR - COVID-19 Pushing More Government Activities Online Emerging Lessons from the COVID-19 Battlefields 13 Tips and Tricks ...
CONTENTS

CONTENTS
           REGULARS

           2    From the Editor’s Desk

           3    Letter From Batho Pele House

           4    News in Brief

           REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS
           AND PRACTICALITIES

           11	Working life in times of COVID-19

           13	COVID-19: Resetting The “Nine to Five”
                Work Button?

           16	13 tips and tricks for working remotely and
                loving it

           18   Adjusting to Remote Working

           19	COVID-19 intensifies the mental health
                challenges among public servants

           20	Working from home? Emerging practices in
                the public sector

           22	COVID-19 Pushing More Government Activi-
                ties Online, Despite Persistent Digital Divide

           23	Heroic Community Health Workers at the
                frontlines of the Covid-19 war

           25	Telemedicine and sexual and reproductive
                health – the new frontier amidst a pandemic
Vol 13 No. 3 of 2020 SDR - COVID-19 Pushing More Government Activities Online Emerging Lessons from the COVID-19 Battlefields 13 Tips and Tricks ...
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

          Managing Editor
                                         COVID-19 pandemic’s
           Mandla Ngcobo
                                         “New Normal”
                Editor
              Dudley Moloi                                                            navigating the current COVID-19 new
                                                                                      normal and importantly prepare for its
                                                                                      aftermath. The reality, according to ex-
           Editorial Team
                                                                                      perts, is that the health crisis facing the
            Sebenzile Zibani
                                                                                      world is likely to be with us for many
             Louisa Teane
                                                                                      for months. Worse still, in a world that
           Veronica Motalane
                                                                                      is interconnected for good or worse, a
                                                                                      similar crisis might be awaiting us and
         Editorial Advisory                                                           hopefully, we would be better prepared
               Group                                                                  in our responses.
           Rhulani Makubela
         Zamokwakhe Khuzwayo                                                          Much of the edition content explores
           Mataywa Busieka                                                            the idea of remote working; a practice
                                                                                      that took centre stage as the world went
             We belong                                                                on “hard” lockdown in earlier respons-
              We care                                                                 es to the pandemic. In the report arti-
              We serve                                                                cle Working life in times of COVID-19,
            Invitation for                                                            Australian knowledge management
            contributions                                                             specialists, Matt Moore and James
                                         TIn a world wired to seek out the latest
                                                                                      Dellow, describe the initial reactions,
                                         fads, fashions and the Next-Big-Thing,
     The Service Delivery Review                                                      preparedness and anxieties when in
                                         it is tempting to dismiss the much-
     is a learning and knowledge                                                      early March, the majority of the work-
                                         hyped “new normal” in the wake of the
     tool for the Public Service. It                                                  force was told to work from home. The
                                         COVID-19 pandemic. Only that the
    provides a platfrom for debate                                                    pair points out how the COVID-19 cri-
                                         daily toll of the impact of the pandemic
       and the exhange of ideas                                                       sis is sparking up what they refer to as
                                         in the rising numbers of the ill and fa-
        to aid improved service                                                       the “classic innovation process”, which
                                         talities worldwide is too real to ignore.    we should hopefully ride into the fu-
                 delivery.
                                           Its devastating impact on whole so-        ture, or the “new normal”, so to speak.
     Public servants, academics,
                                         cieties, industries and economies is         In his regular Letter from Batho Pele
        communities and other
         interested parties are          keenly felt by millions, the “new nor-       House, Public Service and Administra-
     encouraged and welcome to           mal” that the COVID-19 pandemic por-         tion Minister, Senzo Mchunu, highlights
    respond to and raise issues in       tends is hard to fathom.                     from the emerging lessons learnt, from
               this regard.                                                           a Public Service point of view. The
                                         The fullest extent of the future and the     toughest of the expected “new normal”
    Letters and feedback should          “new normal” that the crisis foretells       the need to interrogate how public ser-
    not be more than 500 words           can only be guessed from how nations         vants work, including operating under
    and the maximum lenght for           are responding to threat posed by the        severe fiscal constraints.
      articles is 2 000 words.           pandemic. The post-COVID-19 “new
                                         normal” is embedded in the flurry of         Nonetheless, while there are sections
        For more information             activities and lessons learnt on the go.     of the employed who are fortunate
           please contact                Indeed, the crisis that the COVID-19         enough to work remotely, the article by
        Dudley@dpsalgov.za               pandemic underpins is also opening           Dr Anban Pillay, National Department
                                         up “new horizons and new opportuni-          of Health, reminds us of the sacrifice
                                         ties”, as President Cyril Ramaphosa          and personal risk of those of our col-
                                         pointed on the 21st of April when he         leagues who are at the frontlines of the
                                         announced additional economic and            battles against the COVID-19 pandem-
                                         social measures in response pandem-          ic. These, as Dr Pillay rightly points
                                         ic.                                          out, are the real heroes and heroines
                                                                                      who are worthy of acknowledgement
                                         So, this edition of the electronic Ser-      and celebration.
                                         vice Delivery Review is curated in such
                                         a way that it helps find practical ways of   Dudley Moloi

2          SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 13 No.3 of 2020
Vol 13 No. 3 of 2020 SDR - COVID-19 Pushing More Government Activities Online Emerging Lessons from the COVID-19 Battlefields 13 Tips and Tricks ...
LETTER FROM BATHO
                                                                                                        NEWS
                                                                                                          PELEINHOUSE
                                                                                                                 BRIEF

                                           Emerging lessons from the
                                           COVID-19 battlefields
                                           resources took centre-stage. With the         What this means is that while the Pub-
                                           private sector in near-complete shut-         lic Service would be expected to do
                                           down, it was left to the Public Service       more, its efforts would be undermined
                                           to lead strategies in wading off, de-         by serious financial constraints.
                                           fending and managing the impact of
                                           this war. With the help of the security       It is often said that one’s core per-
                                           cluster, the health and social security       sonality tends to emerge in times of
                                           sectors became the most essential             crisis. The same could be said of the
                                           frontline services.                           personality and character of a nation.
                                                                                         We have seen an unprecedented level
                                           In the health sector, the spread of the       of trust in Government, as well as an
                                           COVID-19 virus is being contained             increase in social cohesion and soli-
This letter comes at a time when           through massive screening, testing            darity during these trying times. In the
our country is in the throes of the        and isolation interventions. These, and       post-COVID-19 order that would sure-
COVID-19 pandemic and an unprec-           many other health strategies, have            ly have to be rebuilt, trust and social
edented period of social stress. The       slowed the predicted course of the dis-       solidarity would make up for pivotal
only times in recent memory when the       ease, resulting in less than expected         social capital.
normal lives of nations have had to en-    numbers of fatalities, and the over 50%
dure such depths of disruptions were       in recoveries of confirmed cases. The         COVID-19 is also teaching us about
during the two world wars, the first in    social security infrastructure, led by the    the value of knowledge, especially that
1914 and the second one in 1939. But       Department of Social Development, is          of experts in fields as varied as virolo-
even then, apart from fighting an invis-   providing relief to an unpreceded num-        gy, statistical modelling to information
ible enemy, the global fight against the   ber of South Africans in social and eco-      technology as Government sought ad-
spread of the COVID-19 virus will be       nomic distress.                               vice on the best strategies in the fight
remembered as a war without guns.                                                        against the COVID-19 pandemic.
                                           EMERGING LESSONS
BATTLE LINES OF BODY AND                                                                 Faced with the hard times that are sure
BEHAVIOUR                                  What are the emerging lessons for the         to follow, the Public Service will most
                                           post-COVID-19 Public Service? First,          certainly be called upon to play an
If the battle lines during the two world   as President Ramaphosa alluded                even greater role in reconstituting so-
wars were on geographic frontiers,         when announcing the lockdown and              ciety in the aftermath of the COVID-19
the war against the COVID-19 pan-          its associated measures, the world            pandemic. The task of rebuilding would
demic is primarily taking place inside     and the country will not be the same          be difficult (if not impossible) without
our bodies. The extent to which bat-       when we finally emerge at the other           the deployment of the same social and
tles are won or lost having less to do     end of this pandemic. The impact on           knowledge assets that are so critical
with firepower, but in changing human      the economy and the demand placed             in the war against the COVID-19 pan-
behaviour, such as staying at home,        on government support is an obvious           demic.
wearing a mask when in public and          one. The difficulty, though, is how we
keeping social distance.                   continue to provide much-needed help
                                           to communities when revenue streams           Senzo Mchunu
Another distinction is how the mobili-     have been severely affected by the im-        Minister for Public Service and
sation of public, social and knowledge     pact of the pandemic on the economy.          Administration

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NEWS IN BRIEF

                                              Two-thirds of South African
                                             businesses innovative active
The Minister of Higher Education,            innovations by South African business-      link between innovation and market
Science and Innovation, Dr Blade             es, particularly as South Africa and the    access. Businesses with innovation
Nzimande, officially released the re-        world grapple with the COVID-19 pan-        activity were more likely to have sold
sults of the latest Business Innovation      demic. The 2014-2016 BIS is the sixth       their goods and services on national
Survey (BIS) 2014-2016, in mid-July,         such survey undertaken in South Af-         markets (58,1%) than those without
which revealed that two-thirds (69,9%)       rica and reveals that during the period     (37,7%). Non-innovation-active firms
of South African businesses are inno-        surveyed, innovation was pervasive          accessed selected provincial markets
vation-active. The Centre for Science,       across all sectors, particularly in engi-   (57,4%) more than any other market.
Technology and Innovation Indicators         neering and technology, manufactur-
(CeSTII), a unit of the Human Scienc-        ing and trade. In this regard, the sur-     “Innovation-active local businesses
es Research Council, carries out the         vey is a major source of evidence and       also accessed national and global
BIS on behalf of the Department of Sci-      helps to update statistical indicators on   markets in the rest of Africa, Europe,
ence and Innovation (DSI). The DSI fa-       business innovation performance in          Asia and elsewhere than their counter-
cilitates the survey as a partner within     the country.                                parts with no innovation activity,” the
the national statistics system, with the                                                 Minister confirmed.
support of Statistics South Africa.          According to the survey, innovative
                                             South African businesses engaged            Another benefit for innovative-active
“The BIS was undertaken in South Af-         in four types of innovation. 48%            companies was the overall improve-
rica to produce indicators on business       carried out product innovation activ-       ment in the quality of goods and
sector innovation performance, which         ities, 42,0% organisational innova-         services. Figures in this category
helps the government and stakehold-          tion, 41,7% marketing innovation, and       show that 38,0% of product and pro-
ers to understand the nature, determi-       34,6% process innovation.                   cess innovators saw quality as a highly
nants and impacts of innovation. Such                                                    successful outcome of innovation, fol-
information is useful in shaping gov-        While these patterns vary significant-      lowed by increased revenue (31,8%)
ernment policy on how to better pro-         ly between sectors, the survey re-          and improved profit margins (30,9%).
mote innovation to boost inclusive eco-      vealed that process innovation was          Similarly, for 49,5% of organisational
nomic growth and competitiveness,”           most prominent in logistics businesses      innovators, the improved quality was
said Minister Nzimande.
                                             (61,7%), while product innovation was       the most highly rated innovation out-
                                             highest in the manufacturing sector.        come.
Minister Nzimande further said that
                                             Organisational innovations were re-
new data on innovation in South Afri-
                                             ported more frequently by businesses        While innovation proved to have a
can businesses are particularly import-
                                             in the financial intermediation sector,     positive impact on businesses, inno-
ant to inform the implementation of the
                                             and the greatest concentration of mar-      vation investment accounted for only
objectives of the 2019 White Paper on
                                             keting innovation was recorded in the       small percentages of turnover in busi-
Science, Technology and Innovation
                                             engineering and technology sector.          nesses with successful innovations in
and that a new set of programmes
                                                                                         the 2014-2016 period. Products new
should be informed by a more con-
                                             “BIS shows that local businesses in-        to the market accounted for 10,8% of
temporary view of the state of busi-
ness innovation in the country.              vested in innovation activities that        turnover, products new to the business
                                             helped them and their workforces to         7,0%, and products new to the world
“The survey results are being pub-           prepare for technological and organi-       1,8%. By contrast, 80,5% of turnover
lished at a time when businesses are         sational change,” Minister Nzimande         in innovation-active businesses was
being forced to become innovative to         pointed-out.                                generated by goods and services that
survive in the unusual circumstances                                                     were unchanged or marginally modi-
created by the outbreak of COVID-19.         The business innovation activities re-      fied.
With stringent safety regulations to         ported by the largest share of com-
combat the spread of the virus, the          panies were training (59,3%), acqui-        At the same time, the figures also
products and services sectors need           sition of computer software (58,3%),        showed that very few businesses
to innovate to ensure people’s safety        and acquisition of computer hardware        protected or profited from their in-
and business continuity said Minister        (57,2%). In both the industrial and ser-    tellectual property (IP) rights. The
Nzimande.                                    vices sectors, the biggest innovation       preferred strategies for IP protection
                                             expenditure item during 2014-2016           were trade secrets or confidentiality
The Minister further said that in his role   was the acquisition of machinery and        agreements (used by 16,5% of inno-
as Minister, he came across amazing          equipment. The survey also showed a         vation-active businesses and 4,7% of

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NEWS IN BRIEF

non-innovation-active ones) and trade-      from innovation. Only a few business-     or from external sources (25,0%), the
mark registration (used by 12,4% of in-     es viewed IP rights as a barrier to in-   high cost of innovation (22,5%), lack
novation-active businesses and 3,9%         novation (4,3% of innovation-active       of credit or private equity (24,8%), dif-
of non-innovation-active ones).             businesses and 6,2% of non-innova-        ficulty in accessing government grants
                                            tion-active businesses).                  (21,5%), uncertainty about demand for
Only 14,8% of businesses reported                                                     innovations (19,3), market competition
increased IP revenue as a highly suc-       Major obstacles to innovation were        (16,4%), and lack of customer demand
cessful outcome of their innovation ac-     mostly financial but included market      (8,6%). For non-innovation-active
tivity, while only 5,1% of innovation-ac-   factors. Eight widely reported obsta-     businesses, the most widely reported
tive businesses granted a licence           cles were a lack of funds within the      barrier to innovation was a lack of de-
on any intellectual property resulting      business or business group (31,5%)        mand for innovations (20%).

                          Nurses account for the majority of
                            COVID-19 compensation claims
Trend analysis by the Compensa-             As of the first week of July, Kwa-Zulu
tion Fund has revealed that women           Natal had seen 98 claims, 67 of which          Dr Blade Nzimande
make up the majority of COVID-19            were accepted, five repudiated and
                                            26 awaited adjudications. The total
                                                                                               stressed that all
related claims, with the most affected
workers being nurses. This is accord-       number of women who were affected            employers are legally
                                            in that province was 92. Below is a
ing to claims lodged with the Compen-
sation Fund, which indicate that more       breakdown of the claims:                          bound to care for
than 80% of the cases received so far                                                     their employees and
involve women.                              • G auteng province has recorded 54
                                               claims - 46 affect women, 31 have            ensure their safety.
“This is consistent in all provinces,”         been accepted, seven repudiated
                                                                                      are paying the ultimate price so that
the Department of Employment and               and 16 were pending adjudication.
                                                                                      we get a second chance to survive the
Labour said in a statement in the first     • Limpopo and the North West had
                                                                                      pandemic,” said Employment and La-
week of July.                                  recorded two claims each, with
                                                                                      bour Minister Thulas Nxesi.
                                               one accepted in Limpopo, one re-
As Coronavirus continues to make its           pudiated and both claimants were
                                                                                      The Minister said the Inspection and
                                               women, while in the North West,
devastating presence felt, the depart-                                                Enforcement Services of the depart-
                                               one claimant was a woman.
ment said it finds itself at the centre                                               ment has upped its in loco inspections
                                            • Mpumalanga had one case, which
of not only having to support workers                                                 to ensure that workers are protected
                                               was accepted. The claimant was a
through relief payments but also had                                                  and that the letter and spirit of the
                                               woman.
to deal with the ever-rising number of                                                COVID-19 safety regulations are fol-
claims as people get sick at work. In       At the time, the Fund had paid R202       lowed.
a statement, the department said the        172.35 in medical aid costs. Other
Fund had by the first week of July re-      claims had been received through          “Unfortunately, we continue to see low
ceived 941 claims, with the highest         Rand Mutual, which had recorded           levels of compliance, with compliance
number coming from the Western              474 claims, while Federated Employ-       rates hovering at 57% for the private
Cape, with 657 claims.                      ers had 20 claims. This meant that in     sector and 47% for the public sector.
                                            total, 1 435 claims had been received.    Since the start of the lockdown, we
“Of that total, 533 were women. The                                                   have served 385 prohibition notic-
Fund had accepted liability for 356,        “We are aware that our frontline work-    es and overall, 2 475 notices were
repudiated 69 and 233 were pending          ers like nurses and other medical staff   served,” said Minister Nxesi.
adjudication.                               have been affected by the pandemic.
                                            We would like to send an appeal for       He stressed that all employers are le-
“In the Eastern Cape, 99 claimants          employers to ensure that workers are      gally bound to care for their employ-
were women, out of a total of 127           adequately protected and are given        ees and ensure their safety.
claims received. The Fund had ac-           the necessary protective gear to do
cepted liability for 26, while three had    their jobs.                               “Equally, workers should refuse to
been repudiated and 98 awaited adju-                                                  work under dangerous conditions. In
dications,” the department said at the      “Our figures show that the most af-       early July, a company that flouted la-
time.                                       fected employees are nurses, who          bour laws and did not adhere to lock-

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NEWS IN BRIEF

down regulations was found guilty           By the first week of July, the public     ment notices and 1 210 contraven-
and fined. It was the workers in that       sector had been served with a total       tions.
company who blew the whistle and            of 88 prohibitions (shutdown), 363
both employer and employee have a           contraventions and 87 improvement         – SAnews.gov.za
responsibility for health and safety, al-   notices, while the private sector has
beit with differing roles,” said Minister   seen 45 prohibitions, 339 improve-
Nxesi.

EPWP’s role in COVID-19 response
strategy
The Expanded Public Works Pro-              long-term strategic goals by strength-    post COVID-19, the number of people
gramme (EPWP) plays a vital role            ening its health care capacity, as well   who are working through public and
in the government’s comprehensive           as assisting those who have lost their    social employment can be increased
COVID-19 response and mitigation            jobs as a result of the health pandem-    through government support.
strategy. This is according to the In-      ic.
ternational Labour Organization’s Mi-                                                 “For instance, government may buy
chael Samson, who was one of the            Samson said the EPWP would have           COVID-19 goods, such as face masks
key guest speakers at the Department        to adapt some of the existing projects    from community based organisations
of Public Works and Infrastructure’s        to respond to the COVID-19 risks and      that provide work opportunities to the
EPWP Webinar on the repositioning           expand some of the EPWP projects          unemployed,” she said.
of Public Employment Programmes             to deliver more opportunities. Anoth-
(PEPs) in the era of COVID-19 and           er key speaker, Dr Miriam Altman, a       Altman said the EPWP, as a pub-
Economic Downturn, which was held           Commissioner in the National Plan-        lic employment programme, must
in early July.                              ning Commission in the Office of the      deepen service delivery and warned
                                            Presidency, said although COVID-19        against using it to displace formal em-
In his presentation, Samson argued          has a negative impact on labour in-       ployment. The EPWP Webinar was
that in response to the effects of the      tensive industries, there is a lot that   hosted by the Department of Public
COVID-19 pandemic on social protec-         the EPWP can still do to provide work     Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), in
tion, the EPWP needs to strengthen          opportunities to many unemployed          partnership with the International La-
its role in supporting government’s         people. Dr Altman said during and         bour Organisation (ILO).

Health implementing interventions to
protect workers
Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says        3 285 infections, or 68%, as at 29 June
the department is implementing              2020, the Minister reported.
interventions aimed at address-
ing COVID-19 infections among               “The leading number of infections were
healthcare workers. The Minister            amongst nurses, with 2 473 infections
said this while giving an update on the     followed by other health professionals
COVID-19 pandemic to the National           including community health workers
Assembly in early July.                     reporting 1 971 and doctors recording
                                            377 infections.”
At the time, Minister Mkhize said as
at 30 June 2020, 4 821 healthcare           The Minister said interventions have
workers in both the public and private      been put in place to address infections
healthcare facilities were reported         among healthcare workers.
to have been infected with the virus
across the country. The Western Cape        “Guidelines to support all health work-
continued to account for the majority       ers across the continuum of care were
of infected health care workers with        developed. A targeted training pro-

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NEWS IN BRIEF

         The Minister said the rational use of PPEs is the greatest challenge
                                                           facing the country.
gramme has been designed and im-            ricans, the Solidarity Fund was able to    “In determining the PPE requirements
plemented to enhance the understand-        commit a total of R815 million towards     for health care workers, we are guid-
ing of the pandemic and facilitate the      the procurement of urgently needed         ed by advice from infection prevention
application of these guidelines.            PPEs for South Africa. The country         and control experts. We want to assure
                                            also received generous donations of        frontline healthcare workers that the
“This primarily includes infection pre-     PPE from several countries, founda-        PPE requirements for health workers
vention and control as well as case         tions, businesses and churches.            at different levels of risk are informed
management. In-service training of                                                     by evidence,” he said.
all health care workers to ensure that      “We are happy that the Solidarity Fund
workers can cope with the manage-           has indicated its willingness to support   Minister Mkhize said as of 7 July 2020,
ment of the pandemic relative to their      the immediate distribution of PPE in its   the department’s assessment pointed
scope of work has been initiated.”                                                     to the fact that there was sufficient PPE
                                            possession to various provinces”
                                                                                       stock available to meet the require-
Meanwhile, the availability of per-                                                    ments of frontline healthcare workers.
                                            The Minister said the rational use of
sonal protective equipment (PPEs)
                                            PPEs is the greatest challenge facing
remained a challenge facing health-                                                    “We endeavour to ensure that the
care workers during the pandemic.           the country.                               appropriate PPE is made available to
Since the arrival of the pandemic, PPE                                                 protect frontline healthcare workers
supply chains have become severely          “The rational use of PPE’s is the great-   from getting infected by the Coronavi-
constrained both globally as well as in     est challenge facing us during this        rus,” he assured.
South Africa and limited imports and        pandemic. Healthcare workers, labour
shortages of raw materials adversely        unions, and professional associations,     – SAnews.gov.za
affected local production.                  due to the concern for the safety of
                                            themselves and their members are
Minister Mkhize said through the gen-       expecting to be provided with the full
erosity of donations made by South Af-      spectrum of PPEs.”

    SA’s population at 59.6 million
Statistics South Africa has announced          popo 5.8 million, Mpumalanga 4.6        shows that for the period 2016 - 2021,
that South Africa’s mid-year population        million, North West 4.1 million and     Gauteng and Western Cape are esti-
is estimated at 59.6 million in 2020. Ac-      Free State 2.9 million people.          mated to experience the largest inflow
cording to StatsSA report, which was                                                   of migrants of approximately, 1 553
released in July, Gauteng continues to      The report indicated that approximate-     162 and 468 568, respectively.
record the largest share of South Af-       ly 51.1% (approximately 30.5 million)
rica’s population, with approximately       of the population is female. According     Life expectancy at birth for 2020 is es-
15.5 million people (26%) living in this    to the report, about 28.6% of the pop-     timated at 62.5 years for males and
province.                                   ulation is aged younger than 15 years      68.5 years for females, while the infant
                                            and approximately 9.1% (5.4 million)       mortality rate for 2020 is estimated at
•    waZulu-Natal is the province with
    K                                       is 60 years or older. Of those young-      23.6 per 1 000 live births. The estimat-
    the second largest population, with     er than 15 years of age, the majority      ed overall HIV prevalence rate is ap-
    an estimated 11.5 million people        reside in KwaZulu-Natal (21.8%) and        proximately 1% among the South Af-
    (19.3%) living in this province.        Gauteng (21.4%).                           rican population. And the total number
•   Northern Cape maintained its sta-                                                 of people living with HIV (PLWHIV) is
     tus as the province with the lowest    Of the elderly (those aged 60 years        estimated at approximately 7.8 million
     population in the country with a       and older), the highest percentage of      in 2020. For adults aged 15 - 49 years,
     population estimated at 1.29 million   24.1% (1.31 million) reside in Gauteng.    an estimated 18.7% of the population
     people.                                The proportion of elderly persons aged     is HIV positive.
•    Western Cape has 7 million peo-       60 and has grown from 7.6% in 2002
      ple, Eastern Cape 6.7 million, Lim-   to 9.1% in 2020. The report further        – SAnews.gov.za

                                                                  Volume 13 No.3 of 2020 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW           7
Vol 13 No. 3 of 2020 SDR - COVID-19 Pushing More Government Activities Online Emerging Lessons from the COVID-19 Battlefields 13 Tips and Tricks ...
NEWS IN BRIEF

 Over 600 000 students use HealthCheck
 assessment tool
Over 600 000 screenings have been              Minister of Higher Education, Science       by a fifth that is between 40 and 65.
done across the post-school edu-               and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande,          So it’s imperative that as a department,
cation and training (PSET) system              said the department has recorded            in collaboration with the Department of
since the launch of HealthCheck in             over 600 000 screenings done across         Health, NICD, World Health Organi-
June 2020. HealthCheck is a risk as-           the PSET system, with students and          sation and other stakeholders, con-
sessment tool used by students and             staff using the HealthCheck through         tinue with programmes and innova-
staff entering campuses to self-check          WhatsApp, USSD or the website.              tive measures as part of our ongoing
their body temperature daily. Based on                                                     effort to support the PSET institutions’
the answers entered on the platform,           “From this data, the overwhelming ma-       response to COVID-19,” Minister Nzi-
the person receives a message with             jority fall into the “low risk” category    mande said.
the low/moderate/high-level risk read-         (about 95%),” Nzimande said.
                                                                                           The Minister was briefing the media
ing. If the risk is low, the individual will
                                               He said that the 5% that fell within the    on measures to deal with the impact
receive clearance valid for 24 hours.
                                               moderate to high risk as per the Na-        of the COVID-19 pandemic within the
                                               tional Institute of Communicable Dis-       Higher Education, Science and Inno-
The tool, which is part of the Depart-         eases (NICD)/Department of Health           vation sectors in July. For those who
ment of Higher Education, Science              algorithm, were immediately placed in       cannot screen through HealthCheck,
and Innovation’s Higher Health pro-            self-isolation, and further assisting to-   Nzimande said screening stations
gramme, allows for early detec-                wards limiting the spread of the infec-     have been placed close to entrances,
tion, mapping and management of                tion and helping towards the phased         using paperless, digital platforms, at
COVID-19 cases within higher educa-            smooth opening of our sector.               every campus.
tion institutions and feeds into the na-
tional Department of Health’s tracking         “Age-wise, about 80% fall into the larg-    – SAnews.gov.za
and tracing system.                            est age bracket (18-40 years), followed

 Gauteng Government rationalises its
 nursing colleges
The Gauteng Health Department has              operation procedures for staffing, re-      Insurance],” said Gauteng Health
signed the statute paving the way for          cruitment of students, curriculum de-       MEC Bandile Masuku at the signing
the establishment of a single govern-          velopment and implementation, tar-          of the statute in Johannesburg.
ment-operated nursing college in the           gets and quality assurance.
province known as the Gauteng Col-                                                         The GCoN stems from the National
lege of Nursing (GCoN).                        “Although the Gauteng College of            Strategic Plan for Nurse Education,
                                               Nursing will be launched in due time,       Training and Practice Strategy com-
Following the signing of the statute in        there has been an urgency for the           piled by the Ministerial Task Team
early July, the GCoN officially became         statute to be signed to allow the pro-      appointed in 2011 by the Health Min-
the umbrella organisation for known            cesses of centralising functions of the     ister. In the nursing strategic plan, it
nursing colleges such as Chris Hani            campuses into one central unit.             was recommended that nursing edu-
Baragwanath, Bonalesedi, Rahima                                                            cation should offer higher education
Moosa, Ann Latsky, SG Lourens and              “I look forward to the transformation       programmes in line with the National
Garankuwa. Under this new arrange-             of nursing practice in Gauteng and I        Qualification Framework Act 67 of
ment, the various provincial nursing           am convinced that the Gauteng Col-          2008, to bring nursing professions in
colleges will be regarded as campus-           lege of Nursing is an important step        line with other professions. The GCoN
es under GCoN administration. The              towards this transformation. More so,       has received the full accreditation
responsibilities of the college will be        as this relates to the strengthening of     from the Council of Higher Education,
to ensure standardisation of systems           Primary Health Care in preparation for      South African Nursing Council, and
and procedures including standard              the roll-out of the NHI [National Health    has been registered by South African

 8            SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 13 No.3 of 2020
NEWS IN BRIEF

Qualification Authority (SAQA). The             contact with the department that the           vices to those we serve,” said Ma-
signing of the statute is in line with the      public interfaces with.                        suku.
Higher Education Act 101 of 1997.
                                                “We recognise that although the                With Gauteng producing 600 and 950
“This commitment reflects how as a              nursing practice is one of oldest pro-         professional nurses every year, the
department we have prioritised the              fessions, it is still very important that      college is expected to lead to better
improvement of patient’s experience             it continuously evolves to meet the            output in terms of the quality of health-
of care in our facilities, a priority that is   needs of the professions specifically          care workers that are trained at the in-
intertwined with the nursing practice,          as this relates to quality assurance           stitution.
nurses are mainly the first point of            and providing quality healthcare ser-
                                                                                               - SAnews.gov.za

 Proposed Basic Income Grant to target
 33m South Africans
The Minister of Social Development,
Lindiwe Zulu, has said that the govern-                  But economists have warned that South
ment was holding “discussions” on                   Africa does not have the financial capacity to
the introduction of a Basic Income
Grant (BIG). The news of a possible                 provide the grant indefinitely to the poor and
BIG was made at a virtual press brief-                that the move would weaken the economy.
ing by the Minister Zulu in July, with a
promise to looked at the details at a
later stage.                                    reached far more people than any oth-          initely to the poor and that the move
                                                er agency.                                     would weaken the economy.
Before the COVID-19 pandem-
                                                “The grant will result in most of the          Economist Mike Schussler said Zulu
ic, the government had planned to
                                                poorer individuals continuing to access        was the only person in the govern-
spend R309.5billion on social securi-
                                                the COVID-19 SRD (Social Relief of             ment talking about the grant, and that
ty payments this year. The pandemic             Distress) grant benefits. The BIG will         it wasn’t ANC policy.
prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa              simplify coverage and ease of grant
to announce in late March a temporary           administration,” she said.                     “What worries me is I don’t think it is
top-up of those grants by up to R300,                                                          going to become policy right now, but
including a monthly R350 unemploy-              “The proposal will help realise the gov-       all these ideas are floated and become
ment grant for six months. The BIG              ernment’s broader social security re-          policy down the line in four or five years
grant would target around 33 mil-               form environment. The BIG will be un-          and then they struggle to implement it
lion people between the ages of 18              conditional, individually targeted and         because there isn’t money,” Schussler
and 59.                                         at the level that will lift individual South   said.
                                                Africans out of poverty.”
South Africa’s poverty line, including                                                         “We only have about 7.5million income
non-food expenses, calculated by Sta-           Isobel Frye, the director of the South         taxpayers in the country and they are
tistics SA, is about R127, would put            African-based Studies in Poverty and           already paying the highest income tax
                                                Inequality Institute and a minimum             to GDP (gross domestic product) in the
the annual cost of the BIG at roughly
                                                wage commissioner, said the grant              world,” he said, adding that he support-
R42billion. Zulu said “discussions” for
                                                had been discussed by the govern-              ed the short-term grant during the pan-
the introduction of the BIG had been            ment over the past 10 months, but the          demic, but it was not sustainable.
“brought back to the table”.                    Treasury had been reluctant to fund it.
                                                                                               “A better idea is to grow the econo-
“The grant is being considered given            “It was unexpected but incredibly wel-         my and give people jobs. You don’t
SA Social Security Agency’s (Sassa)             come. It suggests there’s been a lot of        become rich on welfare, you don’t
legislated mandate as well as the pri-          reflection about the inadequacy of the         become a major league player in the
mary mandate of the National Devel-             R350 Covid-19 grant,” Frye said.               world and a great economy on welfare,
opment Agency,” Minister Zulu said.                                                            because eventually you take too much
                                                But economists have warned that                away from the people who are pro-
She said Sassa had “comparative-                South Africa does not have the finan-          ducing, and they produce elsewhere,”
ly well-developed infrastructure” that          cial capacity to provide the grant indef-      Schussler said.

                                                                         Volume 13 No.3 of 2020 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW             9
NEWS IN BRIEF

  “The reality is that if you pay people because they don’t have jobs then
  chances are they will not get jobs.”
Economist Dawie Roodt said the state      He said South Africa was a poor coun-     revenue-generating mechanisms re-
was currently spending far too much to    try and the “state simply cannot be ev-   gardless of the implementation of a
afford the grant.                         erything for everybody”.                  Basic Income Grant said McLaren.

He said South Africa had a huge fiscal    “The reality is that if you pay people    “BJC has submitted to Parliament that
deficit and debt levels were rising.      because they don’t have jobs then         wealthy individuals and companies,
                                          chances are they will not get jobs.”      income earned on wealth and high in-
“I understand the importance of trying                                              comes can be taxed at a higher rate
to support the poor, but the only way     Daniel McLaren from the Budget Jus-       without harming economic growth,” he
we can afford this is if we spend sig-    tice Coalition (BJC), said there were     said.
nificantly less somewhere else and        many options available for funding the
that means a reduction in the wage bill   grant. The revenue shortfall caused by    By Lyse Comins, Karen Singh and Re-
and the closing down of several state-    COVID-19 and the lockdown required        uters, Daily News
owned enterprises,” Roodt said.           the government to explore alternative

10          SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 13 No.3 of 2020
REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICALITIES

        Working life in times of COVID-19
Knowledge Management South Africa (KMSA) facilitated a webinar session, entitled “Pandemic of Under-Prepared-
ness: Digital Workplaces and the Organisational Responses to COVID-19”, where Australian knowledge specialists, Matt
Moore and James Dellow, reflected on the early days of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic had been a            ual workers, team and organisational        omy were already engaged in some
shocker and a major disruptor in virtu-     leaders, technology professionals and       form of remote working.
ally all aspects of modern life. In Aus-    vendors as well as knowledge man-
tralia as elsewhere in the world, the re-   agement practitioners. In its timing and    LEADERS AND LAGGARDS
sponses to the global health threat had     fluidity, the study was much like watch-
been like throwing a lifeboat to some-      ing how people respond in a fire drill,     In their research, Moore and Dellow
one who is drowning - panic-stricken        except that the COVID-19 pandemic           had identified two streams in the tran-
and floundering as a result, making         was real.                                   sitioning to remote working, name-
rescue difficult. More positively, the                                                  ly the “leaders” and “laggards”. The
global crisis that has been unleashed       “Then, we were really [focusing] was        leaders were represented by those
by the pandemic is a continual learning     on what people needed to do right           organisations that had already started
curve - triggering the “classic innova-     now,” they explained.                       on the path towards “virtual” business
tion process,” according to Matt Moore                                                  models, such as start-ups, technology
and James Dellow, the two knowledge         INFRASTRUCTURE FOR REMOTE                   and software companies. Largely due
management specialist who set out           WORKING                                     to the nature of their work, the leaders
study the readiness of the Australian                                                   were able to adapt to the new lock-
workforce to government-imposed “re-        A developed country, Australia began        down work regime with much ease.
mote working”.                              the “new normal” of the COVID-19 pan-       The laggards, on the other hand, had
                                            demic with clear advantages, including      more conventional working modes,
DIGITAL WORKPLACE EXPERIMENT                geographic isolation. Australia had the     but deeply ingrained work conventions
                                            trappings of a developed nation in its      made the adoption of remote working
Australia was among the first countries     wealthy population, which made for          methods difficult.
to adopt austere lockdown measures,         adequate social and health services
at the beginning of March 2020, in the      in case of emergencies. Although “Eu-       Though in possession of much of the
face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The          ropean” in outlook and character, the       technology to migrate to the virtual
efforts to contain the spread of the        country floats nearer South Asia on         workplace under lockdown conditions,
“Corona” virus resulted in what the two     the pacific sea. It is also known for its   the laggards tended to adopt a wait-
knowledge management specialists            vast expanses of land, putting great        and-see-attitude, which meant that
described as “one the greatest experi-      distances between the major urban           they were less prepared for remote
ments that the world has seen” as mil-      centres.                                    working. The “laggard” represented
lions of workers were suddenly sent off                                                 the majority of the Australian organisa-
to work from home. At the time, it was      Most crucial to remote working was          tions, workforce and typically defined
this fleeting period transitioning from     the existence of appropriate technolo-      what constituted the world of work.
the office space to that of homework,       gy, such as reliable broadband for in-
or remote working, that the two Austra-     ternet access in most homes. Moore          HEAD SPACE
lian knowledge management special-          and Dellow referenced the high rate
ists, Matt Moore and James Dellow,          of internet connectivity among Austra-      On its introduction, the COVID-19
sought to understand and document.          lian households, which stood at 87%         lockdown regime turned the traditional
Using dip-stick research, the pair want-    coverage, compared to South Africa’s        work environment on its head, pushing
ed to ascertain the responses and pre-      10% (though a much higher usage of          millions of workers away from the fa-
paredness of both employers and em-         mobile or cellular phones).                 miliarity of the office desk to the deep-
ployees to the idea of “remote working”                                                 end of working on the home front,
and digital workplace programmes in         Notably for remote working, was the         which came with its complexities. First,
their native country. Their method,         fact that some 53% of employees had         observed the Australian knowledge
conducted in real-time, involved inter-     experienced homeworking to varying          management specialists, was the busi-
views with just over a dozen people,        degrees, which provided a healthy           ness of juggling the various needs of a
desktop research, anecdotes friends         base for working from home. A small         houseful of co-habitants, such as away
and colleagues both inside and outside      but sizeable portion of the workforce,      from school kids, while figuring out the
Australia. The pair were especially in-     largely freelancers, consultancies, and     best ways to be productive under the
terested in the experiences of individ-     contractors in the so-called “gig” econ-    new normal.

                                                                   Volume 13 No.3 of 2020 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW           11
REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICALITIES

Even in a better-off country like Austra-   issues arising from the highly unusual     “Since the first cases and as the world
lia, Moore and Dellow noted, “actually      state of being socially distanced. Along   finds itself in the depth of the Corona
[trying to work] in houses that are not     the new horizon, observed Moore and        pandemic there is a sense nothing in
designed for [remote working] is not        Dellow, is the renewed importance of       life as we know it would be left un-
easy.”The swiftness with which the          productivity, motivation, engagement,      hinged, in particular, the idea of work”
lockdown measures were introduced           support and communication that are         they noted.
also left little space for psychological    emerging as crucial to sustainable re-
adjustment. Unfortunately, it was more      mote working.                              One of the many consequences of
than just a workstation that was being                                                 COVID-19, albeit the positive side, is
relocated, but a whole culture was be-      “If you’re a bad manager, then you         how it is triggering what Moore and
ing transposed from one setting to an-      don’t care. If you’re a good manager,      Dellow refer to as the “classic innova-
other.                                      you’ve got to recognize that your peo-     tion process”. This explained how peo-
                                            ple are not only working from home,        ple navigate crises, starting with being
In an online BBC Worklife article, Gi-      they’re also worried about their health.   shocked, acceptance and rapid adap-
anpiero Petriglieri, an associate pro-      They’re worried about their employ-        tation and learning.
fessor at Insead Business School, re-       ment prospects,” the knowledge man-
ferred to the “self-complexity theory”.     agement specialists noted.                 “[People are now] starting to move to
The theory explains how people neatly                                                  that next horizon, perhaps a little bit
seek to separate the various aspect of      “The right kind of engagement with         more quickly than we perhaps antici-
life’s relationships into social shelves,   your employees is really important         pated,” they noted.
such as work, friends and family. It is     right now. And if leaders, managers
when these are suddenly collapsed to-       and organizations aren’t providing that    According to Moore and Dellow, the
gether and the lines blurred, as is the     emotional support wellbeing support to     COVID-19 global pandemic reflects
case with being lockdown at home,           their employees, then that’s something     positively on how society and organi-
that some kind of culture shock, or dis-    that should be happening, “the knowl-      sation can respond swiftly to existential
sonance, occurs.                            edge management specialist advised.        crises, adding that “when we positively
                                                                                       have to do something, we do it”. They
“Most of our social roles happen in         “CLASSIC INNOVATION PROCESS”               worried, however, whether organisa-
different places, but now the context                                                  tions would learn to factor crises such
has collapsed,” Professor Petriglieri       Moore and Dellow’s observations were       as the COVID-19 pandemic in their
explained.                                  made in the earliest reaction to the       long-term and capabilities to anticipate
                                            COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the          crises, rather than merely reacting to
MANAGING “SOFT” ISSUES                      world had since moved on, including        these. This time around, they won-
                                            relaxing some of the strict lockdown       dered, will this crisis prompt the ma-
Even as the laggards were catching up       regulations, they sensed that the leg-     jority of organisation to work remotely,
to the practicalities of COVID-19 work-     acy of COVID-19 would be more than         going forwards?
ing life, organisations had to also con-    collapsed businesses and broken
tend with the need to manage the “soft”     economies.                                 By Dudley Moloi

12           SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 13 No.3 of 2020
REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICALITIES

                           COVID-19: Resetting The
                        “Nine to Five” Work Button?
By Rakau Radebe, a financial report-        ter of a year, that we (my team) have     self in these meetings as you would
ing and risk analyst at First National      been working from home. This for me       in the office. Secondly, I have real-
Bank                                        has been a revelation in very many        ized I can do more work because I
                                            ways.                                     am not concerned about wasting, on
I first encountered news of the novel                                                 average, the more than three hours
coronavirus, as it was then reported,       DECONSTRUCTING WORK                       on the daily commute, to and fro. This
only as the outbreak of a strange ill-                                                frees me from the stresses of peak
ness in China’s Wuhan province. I           An important lesson that I have           hour Johannesburg traffic, and I can
thought little of it, perhaps lulled into   learned is that most office work can be   stretch my workday way past the nor-
false complacency from similar past         done from home. We have the tech-         mal eight hours spent in the office,
outbreaks in that part of the world be-     nology to execute from our homes,         again because I do not have to think
fore, traced to so-called wet markets.      the overwhelming majority of the work     about the drive home. These factors,
However, visuals began to emerge            that hundreds of thousands of workers     and others, have convinced me that
though, of train stations in China be-      commute into enclaves such as Sand-       there should be some appreciable
ing almost empty of travelers at a time     ton, for. Clerical workers, bookkeepers   productivity gains, and these would
when peak traffic was expected, and         and accountants, lawyers, engineers,      be apparent if someone did a proper
sadly, of older people succumbing to        designers, architects, stockbrokers,      study on the subject. Most of us work-
the illness in their homes and even         investment professionals, telemarket-     ers are in simple terms, adults who do
in the streets. My complacency was          ers and call center workers, many in-     not need a supervisor breathing down
further shaken when many countries          formation technicians, can work from      our necks, keeping an eye on us and
around the globe began to report            home. This shows up the daily com-        ensuring we toe the line.
cases, and these grew rapidly, even         mutes to these places for the need-
exponentially, and suddenly the enor-       lessly destructive rituals they are. So   My biggest fear throughout this pe-
mity of what the world was facing hit       for me, work from home is going to        riod is that some decision-makers in
me square in the face. Our global vil-      be a dominant feature of the world’s      positions of power may press for a
lage was shrinking, and people can fly      new normal. With the deconstruction       return to the pre-COVID world and
around the world in a matter of hours,      of this very large cultural cog, many     its normality: the crowded offices, the
so it was only a matter of time and this    other practices that were built around    stressful commutes with all the petrol
virus would be at our door.                 the five-day office work cycle, are go-   and diesel-burning machines roaring
                                            ing to have to be revised accordingly.    on our highways; such a return would
In the months leading up to the lock-       Most of us, for example, structure our    in my view be a shameful waste of les-
down, as far back as December, I had        week around five days for work. But       sons learned and a tragic resetting of
already begun to silently petition high-    with corporate culture changing in the    the world towards assured ecological
er powers for a slowdown in what we,        patterns that I see happening, I can      destruction. Does this mean I am ad-
all of humanity, were doing. I prayed       also see us blurring the lines between    vocating for a continued, unchecked
that everything is slowed down so           work and home, meaning those ac-          lockdown? Not at all. I am surprised
that scientists could be given room to      tivities one previously reserve for the   that many people see the choices fac-
study this new pathogen and advise          weekend, such as spending time with       ing us as either lockdown, or opening
the best course of action to combat it.     family, can now take place anytime.       everything up, namely, going back to
The total shutdown announcement,                                                      the old normal. The debate is cast as
when it came, washed torrents of al-        LIVED EXPERIENCE                          a choice between saving the economy
most tearful relief and gratitude over                                                and jobs and saving lives. Those with
me. At the time, I was, however, still      Working from home has itself been         a philosophical bent even cast it as a
forced to drive to work as practical        a revelation on many fronts. Firstly,
arrangements for working from home
had still not been finalized, but thank-
                                            being in my home does not mean that
                                            I can let professional standards slip.
                                                                                          An important lesson
fully the executive echelons at my          There is still a disciplined focus on          that I have learned
workplace overruled their middle man-       quality outputs, on contributing your
agers and ordered everybody home,           very best, on observing office-style            is that most office
with urgent arrangements made to            courtesies such as being available              work can be done
tool up to work from home. It has now       when needed, being on time for on-
been more than three months, a quar-        line meetings, and conducting your-                    from home.
                                                                  Volume 13 No.3 of 2020 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW        13
REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICALITIES

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14              SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 13 No.3 of 2020
REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICALITIES

     Let me share that I believe the old structures that shaped much of our
                                                lives are being reconfigured.
choice between choice and tyranny,           SELF-MANAGEMENT                          us as a species to cultivate the val-
between freedom and governments                                                       ues and ethics that will change our
usurping more powers and so going            Let me share that I believe the old      destructive ways and set us on a new
down a slippery slope towards dicta-         structures that shaped much of our       path of caring for our environment,
torship. My take on this is that it is not   lives are being reconfigured. The of-    and each other. I pray also that all our
a binary choice between two mutually         fice, and corporate culture, can no      leaders, in government, the private
irreconcilable extremes. I believe that      longer provide the contours to mould     sector, the churches and elsewhere,
those who can work and learn from            the patterns of our lives by, at least   would embrace the concept of leaders
home, should be allowed and indeed,          not as much as they used to. I believe   as servants of the people, of leader-
encouraged and encouraged in terms           that we, as human beings, are going      ship as service if not servantship, to
of the tools and other technical and         to have to turn inwards to our inner     remove the idea of leadership as au-
human resources support infrastruc-          resources, our values and belief sys-    thority, that they may listen with em-
ture, to continue to do so. I believe        tems, to begin to self-structure. We     pathy and lead from the heart and not
this will open up the spaces to enable       can no longer look to the boss, to the   from behind the bully pulpit.
those whose livelihoods require their        manager, to the workaday timelines
physical presence to go do their work        and deadlines and business days.         In conclusion, let me wish you safe
in less congested terrain, and so in         This is going to be a seismic shift in   passage through these challenging
this roomier world, the disciplines of       particularly westernized working cul-    times. Let us take the threat posed by
social distancing and contact tracing        tures, and I pray we all embrace this    COVID-19 seriously and practice all
would be easier to facilitate.               new unknown for the chance it gives      the things advised by our medical ex-
                                                                                      perts and government leaders: wear
                                                                                      your mask, observe social distancing,
  Let me wish you safe passage through these                                          cough or sneeze into your elbow, and
                                                                                      wash your hands regularly with a suit-
  challenging times.                                                                  able sanitizing medium.

                                                                  Volume 13 No.3 of 2020 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW         15
REMOTE WORKING INSIGHTS AND PRACTICALITIES

13 tips and tricks for working
remotely and loving it
By Cameron Chapman                           rupted time when your meetings are                to get up and put on an outfit you’d
                                             done (or before they start).                      wear to the office. The point is to just
1. FIGURE OUT A SCHEDULE THAT                                                                 have something you wear for work
    WORKS FOR YOU                            3. A CHANGE OF SCENERY                          that isn’t the same thing you wear to
                                                CAN DO WONDERS FOR YOUR                        bed. Yoga pants, jeans, t-shirts, and—
One of the coolest things about work-           PRODUCTIVITY                                   yes—hoodies, are all fine options. And
ing remotely is that you often don’t                                                           if you want to dress up beyond that,
have to punch a time clock at a partic-      Just because you “work from home”                 you totally can. Wear a ball gown if it’s
ular time every morning. You prefer to       doesn’t mean you only work from                   what suits your fancy! You won’t have
wake up early and get a jump start on        home. Instead of just working at your             to worry about co-workers judging you
your day by 7AM? Go for it! Or may-          desk every day, consider switching                for “overdressing” (unless you’re doing
be you’re a night owl and get most of        up where you work. Find a coffee                  video chats, of course).
your work done after dinner. That’s          shop with Wi-Fi (or use your phone’s
okay, too! There are some remote jobs        hotspot). Maybe there’s a co-working              6. PLAN SOCIAL INTERACTION
where you’ll need to have more of a set      space in your city that you could use.               INTO YOUR DAYS
schedule (customer support comes to          Or even sitting on your porch instead
mind), and you’ll probably have some         of at your desk can give you a whole              A standing lunch or coffee date with
meetings you need to attend at times         new energy about what you’re doing.               a friend. Regular evening outings to
that work for the whole team, but out-       One tip: resist the urge to work in bed.          break up your schedule. A mid-day
side of those commitments, you can           It’s fine if you’re sick or late at night/first   yoga class. Anything that gets you out
usually set your schedule in a way that      thing in the morning. But, at least in my         of the house and around other people
works for you and your most produc-          experience, working from bed almost               regularly is a good idea when you’re
tive times. For me, that means start-        never results in being more productive.           working remotely. It’s so easy to slip
ing work sometime around 9 every                                                               into becoming a hermit when you don’t
morning (my first meeting is generally       4. INVEST IN A DEDICATED WORK                     have to leave the house. But if you’re
at 10), but then I regularly take a few         SPACE (NOT YOUR KITCHEN                        not an introvert, isolating yourself all
hours off in the afternoon and evening          TABLE)                                         week long is a surefire way to burn
before hitting work again late at night                                                        out quickly. And even introverts benefit
(usually after 8).                           Working at your kitchen or dining room            from getting out and seeing other peo-
                                             table can seem logical. But that means            ple regularly.
2. GROUP MEETINGS AND                       any time you want to use your table
    APPOINTMENTS                             for other things (like eating, or a game
                                             night with friends), you have to clean
Grouping a bunch of meetings and             up and put away your work. At the very
appointments together with only short        least, figure out where you can put a
breaks in between leaves you with lon-       dedicated desk that isn’t used for any-                 Regular evening
ger stretches of uninterrupted time out-     thing else. If you have a spare room to
side of those meetings to actually get       use for an office, even better. But even             outings to break up
your work done. Think about it: if you
take an hour break between meetings,
                                             a closet or unused corner of a room
                                             can work great!
                                                                                                     your schedule. A
you don’t really have a solid hour to do                                                         mid-day yoga class.
work. You’ll want to refill your coffee or   5. DON’T WORK IN YOUR PAJAMAS
grab a snack, take a quick bathroom                                                                Anything that gets
break, maybe stretch your legs, and          It can be so tempting to stay in your               you out of the house
then pretty soon you’ve only got a half      PJs all day when you don’t have to
hour left in your “hour”. Instead, putting   leave the house. But getting up in the                 and around other
meetings back-to-back tends to make
you break up those between-meeting
                                             morning and starting your work day
                                             the way you would if you were com-
                                                                                                   people regularly is
tasks (stretch your legs between the         muting to an office is a boost to your                a good idea when
first two meetings, refill coffee before     productivity. It helps signal your brain
the third, bathroom break after that,        that it’s time to work, not rest and re-                  you’re working
etc.), leaving you with more uninter-        lax. Now, that doesn’t mean you need                            remotely.
16           SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 13 No.3 of 2020
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