Leaders of organisations have been advised to adopt the hybrid approach of working remotely within COVID-19 and beyond.
Director of Human Resource, Vodafone Ghana, Hannah Ashiokai Akrong, who gave theadvice during the 2020 virtual Accra SDGs Investment Fair, said globally, COVID-19 had influenced how organisations worked, and increasingly compelled companies to mobilise technology to aid work.
“The pandemic has impacted how we hire, altered how we work and compelled companies to mobilise technology to aid work. With about 90 per cent of the world going on lockdown in March, a good number of business entities had to figure out how to still be productive with staff or employees operating from home,” she said.
“If you build the digital tools and infrastructure to work remotely, that’s great but the physical work space is key for brainstorming sessions, collaborations and team bonding. A hybrid system is the way to go,” she added.
She stressed the need for the business activities of the operators in the informal sector, which constitutes about 80 to 90 per cent of Ghana’s economy, to be digitised.
“When COVID-19 pandemic hit, some businesses in the sector such as deliveries and food services went online and utilised social media platforms. There’s no business which cannot harness the power of technology and innovation,” Ms Akrong said.
The Director of Human Resource held that it was time modifications were made to education modules, where a lot of classroom learning was done online, adding that “with little physical contact, continuous assessment should rather be done using more of online work”.
She suggested that reading materials should be given to students to read ahead of classes.
She entreated Ghanaian and African students to show interest in courses such as Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation.
“There are many free online courses to take advantage of. Udemy, Inc. the American online course provider, aims at professional adults and students, and it has over 1,600 courses.
“Yale, Harvard, Coursera and the Microsoft partnership with LinkedIn all give free courses or paying ones for as little as $15,” she said.
BY TIMES REPORTER
