The trilemma of remote work policy, productivity and fuel price hike

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a recent research, stated that the work-from-home revolution was creating a positive feedback loop that is powering productivity and economic growth across economies. GLORIA NWAFOR writes that with the recent hike in fuel prices across the country, which has aggravated workers’ burdens and stretched household finances amid fuel scarcity and hike in transportation costs, the need for organisations to embrace work-from-home for improved productivity has become more crucial.
Many households are currently facing difficult times as their disposable incomes have continued to dwindle amid high inflation rate, devaluation of the naira, and hike in petrol products.

This is also just as the productivity level of workers has been affected across many workplaces as findings showed that employees’ sicknesses and ailments have been rampant in the past week due to the challenges of commuting to work due to scarcity and a hike in transportation costs.

Currently, many workers, especially low-income earners, are now trekking to work due to an increase in transportation costs.

The Guardian findings also showed that many of them have already spent their August salaries on transportation costs, leaving them financially constrained for the rest of the month.

Already, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Labour Statistics Report pegged the unemployment rate at 5.1 per cent with underemployment at 12.3 per cent, while the inflation rate as of August was 32.15 per cent, according to the NBS.

Similarly, it stated that the National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) was N1,265 in July 2024 per adult per day, excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation.

With the hike in the price of fuel that has raised the cost of food commodities, it was gathered that the current rate will not be enough to feed even a child.

The Guardian gathered that two employees working in different factories collapsed upon getting to their workplaces as they trekked from their houses due to their inability to afford the hiked transport fares.

While the impact of fuel hike has impacted workplace productivity and businesses, employees are also groaning, as organised labour has called on employers to put a human face to their workers in this trying time in the country.

There are indications that more organisations and businesses are threatening to embark on a mass sack of workers following the increase in the pump price of fuel, as they stated that their budget to keep their plants running has been tripled, thereby forcing them to resort to the last alternative they have, which is the layoff of workers.

Some workers, who work in the production unit of manufacturing firms, told The Guardian how they have to trek to their workplaces to meet the day’s demand and have nothing left on them for upkeep.

One of them, Ayo Bamidele, a married man with three children, said he had to run two shifts of eight hours each at N1,600 daily to meet up, following financing pressure from his end.

“My previous job was in one of the manufacturing firms that shut down operations and exited Nigeria due to the government’s unfavorable policies. I was earning better pay then, which sustains my family. Rather than waiting for a new job offer that pays handsomely, I had to quickly opt for factory work to meet up with household demands, thereby running two shifts, morning and night, at least three times a week,” he said.

Another factory worker, 20-year-old Uju Eze, said she is saving for admission into the university as the income of her parents, who are into petty business, is not sustainable for them to feed and support her education.

“Since the fuel price was increased, I have to trek to work; if not, I will have nothing left on me for N1,700 daily day. My colleagues and I work in groups after the close of work, and for the morning shift, which we have to report by 7 am, we leave home early, trek to an extent, and enter the bus to enable us to meet up, else we’ll not be allowed to resume with others if we come late. Working from home is not for us factory workers. We have to be on the ground to operate the machines and package products. Government should please come to our aid and make transportation cost easy for us,” she said.

Similarly, a Lagos State civil servant in the junior cadre, Ahmed Lasisi, lamented how he spent over N3,000 on transportation to his place of work, appealing to the government to reverse to a lower fuel price.

“It is very painful because I usually spend about N900 to N1,000 before. It is no longer sustainable, even with the two days granted by our governor to work from home. Transportation cost is killing us now,” he said.

While many organisations and states have before now embraced the work-from-home policy and hybrid model, the hike has also pushed more organisations and states to fully embrace the policy to save workers the high cost of commuting to work daily.

The IMF report showed that in the United States, working from home has stabilised at about 25 per cent of days and has increased about 10-fold following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Nigeria, where many organisations, especially the private sector, have since embraced remote work, the impact of the hike in fuel prices has now pushed more organisations, including the public sector, to a hybrid form of work.

For instance, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, due to the increase in petrol has extended the work-from-home policy for its workers for the next three months, where workers on grade levels 01 to 14 are allowed to work from home for two days in a week, while those on grade level 15 to 17 work-from-home once in a week .

However, many have said that until Nigeria fully embraces automation and fixes the challenges of inadequate power supply, the tendency for workers in the civil service to achieve higher productivity by working from home will continue to be a mirage.

While they said many states don’t have the capacity, they queried how many MDAs could confidently have the capacity to run generator plants from 8:00 am through 5:00 pm and at whose cost?

According to them, the dearth of ICT skills among officials is still a major challenge.

However, for private firms, many have increased their capacity to keep productivity at its peak.

For instance, a manufacturer and the Managing Director of Veevee Paper Products Ltd, N. S. Kedarnath, said while those in factories come to work, some workers in the administrative department work from home, stating that most of the workers in the factory are being appreciated with stipends to keep them motivated.

Director-General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, maintained that work from home also has its dynamics, as it was a multidimensional issue, said to effectively achieve it, workers must be provided with the necessary infrastructure like electricity to work with.

He said while businesses are dealing with the cost of logistics and transportation as well as the cost of doing business, he said employers are also concerned about how they will address employees’ welfare, adding that it was a double-edged sword for employers.

“It is an unfortunate situation for us now, and we hope the government will do something urgently for a quick return to a lesser price. It is not easy for workers to get to work and go back home. Their morale will be down. Employee sickness and ailment would be rampant because of challenges, spending more time on the road, their disposable incomes are impacted negatively,” he said.

Stating that it was still too early to predict a productivity drop, especially for organisations that are embracing the hybrid practice, he said it was about reviewing the effectiveness and for organisations to come up with innovative ways to address the situation.

“The scarcity and price are the issues which have made commuting very difficult. While it is out of businesses’ control, they need to ask which innovative ways they need to imbibe to drive out of challenges. It will drive low productivity in the short run because people will be in queues and traffic,” he said.

Chairperson of the Lagos State Council, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Funmi Sessi, appealed to the Federal Government to put a human face to whatever policies they are churning out and reverse the old fuel price order.

On workers’ welfare, she urged that the government should not delay the implementation of the N70,000 minimum wage, stating that the hardship in Nigeria was getting out of hand.

The Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Chris Onyeka, stressed that the government’s untrustworthiness was unacceptable.

He lamented how a worker would spend about N3,000 on transportation to and from work daily for an N70,000 minimum wage that was yet to be implemented.

“We are talking about being realistic, and the people in government are not; how do you expect workers to survive? We all must join hands to fight these obnoxious policies. If not, Nigeria will continue to go down. Working for 25 working days in a month is N75,000 at N3,000 daily without adding the cost of other expenses on feeding, family, rent and all; this government is full of deceits,” he said.

Also, President of Precision, Electrical and Related Equipment Senior Staff Association (PERESSA), Rufus Olusesan, noted that productivity has gone down in the last six months with less than 30 per cent capacity utilisation of the workforce.

He maintained that not all employees could work from home, citing instances of factory workers who needed to be on the ground to operate machines.

He added that now was the time for labour and the citizens to engage the government once and for all “because as it is now, we can no longer hold it,” he said.

Similarly, the National President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Olusoji Oluwole, implored organisations to look at how they could alleviate the challenges that workers are currently facing.

He said a lot of member unions have been practicing work from home, which he said comes at a cost because they have to pay for electricity.  He warned that the fuel impact would scare investors away.

However, to alleviate the financial burden on workers caused by fuel price hikes, Oluwole urged more companies to embrace remote work, pointing out a silver lining in the form of work to tackle the situation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic, while devastating, has taught economies that work can be done differently. Some organisations have continued to offer remote work opportunities, while others have reintroduced it in light of the ongoing situation,” he said.