Despite the majority of South Africa's workforce being employed in 'deskless' jobs, many basic employee benefits remain computer-based, making it more difficult for this staff contingent to access.
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FreepikHR tech often overlooks frontline workers in industries like mining, security, agriculture, construction, cleaning, and logistics.
“Employee benefits were designed with workers in offices in mind," says Caroline van der Merwe, co-founder and chief product officer at Jem HR.
“Deskless workers - the people cleaning your office, making the coffee you grab on the go, securing your home or removing your rubbish - make up 72% of the workforce,” continues van der Merwe. Unlike office workers, they don’t have email access, stable shifts or HR on standby, for example. This, she says, makes it difficult for them to access the benefits they are entitled to.
“A leave application, for example,” she says, “is easy enough for someone to complete on their laptop. But for the fast food restaurant cashier in your local mall, this isn’t so simple. She may need to fill in a paper form, hunt down multiple signatures and wait days for approval that she may not get.”
Upgrading accessibility
The problem isn’t that deskless workers aren’t entitled to the same benefits as their office-based counterparts. They just struggle to access them. That is if they are aware of them at all.
“Updates are sent via email or the company app or internal web portal,” comments van der Merwe, “which your deskless workers may not be easily able to access. The logistics of printing out memos and updates to get them to multiple sites are enormous. Which means these communications don’t reach all the people who need them.”
If they do reach them, employees who aren’t behind a desk or available during office hours face additional access hurdles. “If you need to log in on a desktop to apply to access your funeral benefits or counselling, or call HR, for example, during office hours, a benefit becomes meaningless,” van der Merwe adds.
HR and finance leaders need to switch their perspective, and instead of asking if the benefits they offer are legally compliant and designed to attract and retain the right people, they need to ask, “If I work night shift, or only have a mobile phone with no data, how do I access this benefit?”
Nicky Myburgh 19 Jun 2023
Meet your people where they are
Employers need to tackle this issue in a number of ways, says van der Merwe.
Firstly, they need to simplify their communications so that they are easily understood by everybody from C-level down to frontline, irrespective of what language they speak.
Secondly, they need to remove administrative barriers and make benefits available via channels their employees can easily access and use. Channels like WhatsApp - which is used by some 20 million South Africans, according to Statista.
“Employers need to meet their employees where they are - on their mobile phones. Company updates, leave forms, and other critical communications should be as easily accessed via WhatsApp as they are via your intranet.
“Services like wellness check-ins could reach more employees and happen more often if they’re done online, rather than face to face. Benefits need to be tailored to everyone in the business to truly be equal and impactful,” she states.
As South Africans buckle under increasing economic pressure, employers can make a real difference to their workforces by making sure they can access the benefits they are entitled to - fairly, easily, and simply.
