Next week, CcHub will join a host of other Nigerian companies like Carbon, PWC, Andela that have adopted the work from home policy for their employees due to the escalation of Covid-19 in the country.
The decision was divulged in a tweet by CcHub’s CEO, Bosun Tijani.
However, Bosun added that the office will still be open for those who prefer to work from the office. He explained that this is because some employees actually feel more at home when at the office.
The often unspoken side of “work from home” is that home is actually a place of abuse for some people. The office in a number of cases is home! Let’s look after our people.
Bosun Tijani, CEO of CcHub
Supporting employees health with telemedicine
Apart from adopting remote work, Bosun has added that the hub was evaluating telemedicine apps that can help their staff get basic medical support in case the virus escalates.
With only 5 labs having the capacity to test for the Covid-19 virus in Nigeria, if the spread escalates, having a backup to access quality healthcare through telemedicine could be a lifeline.
Suggested read: Telemedicine Could Bring Doctors Closer to Nigerians, But Here’s Why It’s Not Yet Our Thing
Work from home could increase the cost of internet
As startups in the country are adopting work from home, it means workers will have to find an alternative source for internet and light which is oftentimes provided by companies.
This translates to the fact that workers may have to pay personally for their internet data as well as pay for power packs if power at home is bad.
Although Bosun Tijani said the hub will give its employee internet vouchers, he decried the fact that embarking on remote work will make the cost of internet data a pain to employees.
Discounted data plans won’t be bad at this time….
Speaking on efforts he has made to help reduce the cost of internet for workers, Bosun said he had been engaging telecom providers to provide discounts on data plans for workers, startups and SMEs across Nigeria.
He further called for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and people who had influence among telecoms to help push for the provision of discount data plans.
Internet would be a major setback if the spread of novel coronavirus escalates to the point of lockdowns. This is quickly becoming the case in Europe where major cities and indeed countries are on lockdown. This has limited everyone to the internet and this could put a strain on the internet infrastructure.
To this end, streaming services, Netflix and YouTube have heeded the call by EU’s Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Thierry Breton to reduce their streaming quality to standard definition. An hour of standard definition video uses about 1 gig of data. HD uses about 3 gig an hour.
Thus, if it comes down to work from home, Africa will need all the help it can get with internet connectivity.
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