Big shift to hybrid work in South Africa catches government’s attention: report

LABOUR minister Thulas Nxesi says the big shift to a new way of working in South Africa is drawing the government’s attention, which needs to consider how to regulate the new environment to protect workers.

Speaking at the annual National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) summit this week, the minister said that the labour market was being disrupted by things like remote working, hybrid models, and current regulations were out of step with the practice.

“This raises a number of questions: What are the consequences of these transformations for businesses and workers; what does this mean for how we regulate the labour market?”

According to the City Press, Nxesi said that the government is used to regulating a labour market in which people meet physically, but after Covid-19 and lockdown, the world of work and labour no longer has physical interaction as the only way to do business.