Basil Jarrett | Let my people work … from home

IT’S THE end of the workday and I’m reminded that this evening I have school pickup duties. Today was a fairly mild one by law enforcement standards and so I exit the building in a relaxed mood, looking forward to some much-deserved couch and Netflix time. I’ve been binge-watching Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black for the last couple of days, and if you haven’t started, you should. Trust me. Crystle Stewart’s big forehead has never looked this good. I put on some Celine Dion and slowly pull away from the plantation parking lot. My mood and my mind is mellow.

Thirty minutes later, I’m no further than 100 metres away from said parking spot, as bumper-to-bumper traffic on Knutsford Boulevard corrals me inside this inglorious pen called rush hour traffic. It’s getting dark. Celine is now grating on my nerves, and slowly but surely, I begin to feel the anxiety that accompanies the transformation of your favourite mild-mannered columnist from Dr ‘Easy-Does-It’ Jekyl to Mr ‘I-Hate-New-Kingston-Traffic’ Hyde. Celine Dion has now been replaced by DMX, as I join the army of cross, angry, miserable and impatient drivers fighting to make their way home.

THIS DAILY PURGATORY

Not that anyone would call this “driving”. More like a crawling parade of frustration and irritation. My speedometer hovers somewhere around 3km/hr. The gas gauge leers at me from the quarter-tank mark. An endless line of red brake lights glares back menacingly from as far as the eye can see. And today, every Coaster bus, Probox and Yeng-Yeng seems to be out for the parade.

I sigh deeply and slump into my seat, letting my head rest against the window. DMX has been replaced by Tupac but not even he sounds angry enough. This two and a half-hour commute has become my daily purgatory. If I’m lucky, I should reach my first pickup by 6, second by 7 and home by 8:30. There goes my date with Crystle.

LEST WE FORGET

It’s times like these that I have to step back and ask, what, if anything, did we learn from COVID? Have we forgotten that some of us actually work better and are more productive from home? Have we lost sight of the savings on utility bills? What about work life balance and the reports of greater mental and emotional health? When did we choose to throw those discoveries out the window and decide that it’s absolutely necessary to shlep our laptops along for the ride in this endless sea of brake lights, potholes, and exhaust clouds, just to prove that we can sit still for eight hours?

As I sit there, stationary for another 15 minutes, the words of my high school history teacher come floating back to me: “Those who forget their history are bound to repeat it”. And repeat it daily, apparently.

My mind goes back to just over a year ago when a UK-based experiment showed that a four-day workweek can be just as productive as a five-day one, and that flexible remote work arrangements were even more useful in helping persons to manage stress, sleep, their personal lives and overall mental health. In that study, nearly 3,000 employees from 61 companies took part in the largest ever four-day workweek experiment in the world. The majority of supervisors and employees who participated were so impressed by the numbers, that they decided to keep the arrangement going forward, with up to 15 per cent of employees stating that “no amount of money” could convince them to go back to a five-day, 40-hour workweek.

SHIFT YOUR MINDSET

Citing societal and environmental benefits such as lowered healthcare costs, lowered national fuel bills and lowered emissions from reduced commutes, participants said they had seen the future, and it didn’t include torturous morning and evening commutes. At the time, I wrote in these very same pages that Jamaica would be well served to heed these lessons as a way to lower our fuel costs, light bills and collective blood pressure.

Alas, it is clear that I was being overly ambitious, despite the fact that in 2014, the Senate had passed the Employment (Flexible Work Arrangements) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, paving the way for the introduction of the type of flexible working hours and times that the UK experiment was testing. Government seemed to be in agreement as there was bipartisan support for the legislation, promotion and adoption of these alternative work arrangements. But as we’ve come to discover from the slow take-up of the provisions of the act, these laws will not have the intended effects if there isn’t a corresponding cultural shift among our citizens.

EMBRACE THE SAVINGS

And that’s where our business and private sector comes in. The UK experiment, and COVID-19 before it, showed us the vast opportunities that are now afforded by today’s technology. But somehow, we remain tethered to the past, insisting that a packed office is the hallmark of productivity and success. It’s less about output and more about appearances as the furious clickity-clack of keyboards deceptively scream “look how busy and productive we are”, forgetting that most workers are more efficient at home without the distractions of office gossip, irritating co-workers, or impromptu meetings that could’ve been emails.

Instead, let’s remember what companies could save if they fully embraced remote work, rather than paying it lip service. Less need for office space, lowered utility bills and fewer cups of company coffee are just the start. We could save time, save gas and save what little patience we have left with this God-awful traffic.

My pitch therefore to all the CEOs and managers out there who are causing this bumper-to-bumper disaster is to trust your people. Enable and empower them to work from wherever they can to be their most useful, productive self. Be it from home, a café, or under a mango tree in the backyard. Who cares? Whatever it takes to get us out of this jam. It’s a win-win for everyone. You get your results, and I get to listen to Celine all the way home.

Major Basil Jarrett is a communications strategist and CEO of Artemis Consulting, a communications consulting firm specialising in crisis communications and reputation management. Visit him at www.thecrisismajor.com and send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.