Hybrid Work Five Years Later: Lessons for South Africa

1. Work is Not a Place Anymore

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been five years since the COVID-19 lockdowns that changed the way we think about work. One of the most memorable lines that emerged from that time was: “Work is not a place we go to, it is something we do.”

The pandemic forced us to rethink the very meaning of work. Offices shut overnight, and millions of people found themselves working from kitchen tables, bedrooms, or any quiet corner they could find.

2. What Does This Mean for Culture?

Culture has always been shaped by how and where we work. In this “new normal,” the challenge is to design cultures that:

• Build trust and fairness across office-based and remote employees.

• Recognise the infrastructure gaps that affect productivity and access.

• Provide psychological safety for employees who may struggle with isolation or difficult home circumstances.

• Use the office not as the only place where work happens, but as a hub for collaboration, learning, and connection.

The best way forward isn’t about choosing “remote” or “office.” It’s about creating a culture that adapts to South Africa’s realities while staying competitive globally.

3. Fairness in a Divided Context

One of the biggest fairness questions in South Africa is around class and inequality.

• Middle- and upper-class professionals often refuse to return to the office — and can justify it. They may have stable fibre, backup power, and even dedicated home offices. Their productivity is high, and their preference for flexibility is strong.

• Other employees don’t have that luxury. For someone without reliable power, data, or even a private space to work, the office is not just a workplace — it’s a lifeline.

This creates a cultural tension: how do companies create policies that are both fair and effective? The answer lies in department flexibility. Some departments — like IT development teams — may be fully equipped to work remotely. Others — like contact centres that depend on stable connectivity and power for real-time customer service — may need to operate largely from the office.

By framing flexibility at the department level rather than the individual role, organisations avoid creating unfair divides where managers enjoy full freedom while teams are required to be onsite. Instead, decisions are made around the practical realities of the work itself, supporting fairness and clarity across the organisation.

4. The South African Experience: Challenges Leaders Must Understand

Globally, hybrid work debates focused on productivity, collaboration, and flexibility. In South Africa, the conversation had an extra layer of complexity.

• Power disruptions: Load shedding meant many workers couldn’t rely on a stable power supply. While some companies invested in backup systems, most individuals simply had to wait it out.

• Internet inequality: In urban centres with fibre, remote work was manageable. But in many areas, patchy mobile data connections made video calls and online collaboration frustrating or impossible. For roles like contact centre agents, this directly affected service delivery.

• Social challenges: Lockdowns also shone a light on deeper issues like gender-based violence (GBV). With women trapped at home with abusive partners, rates of domestic violence surged. Mental health also became a pressing issue, especially for those living alone in small apartments or isolated rural settings.

As leaders, it’s important to recognise that even if these challenges don’t affect you personally, they may have defined your employees’ experience. Ignoring this reality risks creating policies that exclude or disadvantage parts of your workforce.

Five Years Later

Most companies today operate with some form of hybrid structure. In fact, culture studies I conducted after COVID showed that a big majority of people felt more productive working from home — but they also admitted they were working longer hours. We’ve adapted to this “new normal,” but is it really the best design? Or is it time to relook at how we work now that isolation is no longer a necessity? It’s important for leaders to regularly survey their people, test assumptions, and ask what setup truly works best for them — because culture is not fixed, it evolves with our choices.