The report goes on to say that Cape Town is now South Africa's most congested city. The mother city comes in at 33 on the global ranking with travel time being increased by an average of 27% during heavy traffic. This is surprisingly 2% more than Johannesburg.
In areas of the world where traffic is far worse than in South Africa, companies have started to look at new workplace philosophies as a solution. Allowing certain workers to work from home for focused tasks or specific projects or providing staff flexible working hours to avoid rush hour.
"There is no one size fits all answer for workspaces globally. In South Africa, most people are still office-based, and executives generally feel more comfortable being able to see what their employees are doing for most of the day," says Lucy le Roux, marketing manager for office design firm Paragon Interiors.
"We therefore advise our clients on providing choice and variety within the office environment to meet the needs of our diverse workforce. We also educate our clients on creating a productivity culture through running office etiquette workshops," Le Roux explains.
"Activity-based working is an exciting new way of working, but companies need to understand the complexities of implementation before embarking down this path. For some this may mean being willing to radically change their organisations," says Jillian Williamson, Paragon Interiors in-house industrial psychologist.
Activity-based working is basically a workspace designed around the core activities that take place at work. Staff are then given the freedom to work wherever, and whenever they like, provided the work gets done.
This philosophy has brought about the freeing up of desk space and a movement to shared desk environments, working from home or hoteling (sharing work spaces) as workers are no longer required to sit at a desk all day to prove that they are working. It also helps to reduce congestion in offices and also allows staff to be more productive.
"Employees could gain additional hours per week by working from home or not commuting to work during peak traffic periods," she says.
A study of 25,000 IBM employees showed that employees who work from home averaged 19 more hours per week than office based employees, without feeling a conflict with family life.
"The benefits extend to other staff who are still office based too, as lower workplace occupancies create environments more conducive to productivity and reduce stress," says Le Roux.
