A report by Jobberman Ghana on the impact of Covid-19 on jobs in Ghana has indicated that over 244,000 firms have adjusted their business models as a result of Covid-19 which led to the imposition of some restrictions.

These companies are now relying on digital solutions such as mobile money and the internet for sales transactions

Speaking on the Springboard, Your Virtual University, a radio programme on Joy FM, the Chief Executive Officer of Jobberman Ghana, Kwaku Agbesi, said “we noticed that lots of companies were going through challenges during the Covid-19 period, a lot of them did not know how to navigate their way through so we tried to put together a guideline document to help them.

He said the report indicated that the brick and mortar way of work would not be the way to go and companies must therefore digitize their operations.

“People were less likely to go out and companies, therefore, had to adapt to serve the needs of the people in those times. Companies also needed to ensure that they were still providing the needs of their customers irrespective of the times,” he stated.

Most sought after function

Mr Agbesi pointed out that sales were the most sought after job function now with customer service and support experiencing the highest decline.

He said this was due to the fact that companies realized that they needed salespeople to drive revenues.

“Sales went up but it was more of the telesales or the virtual sales,” he said.

He also noted that firms within the agriculture sector and related industries used relatively more digital solutions (56 per cent), while firms in the accommodation and food sector were the least adopters to digital solutions (28 per cent).

“With the hospitality industry, we all expected that to be the case due to the fewer travels

“There is a lot of innovation within the agriculture sector at the moment, with lots of producers adopting technology in their day to day activities. This is a good thing because agriculture is the bedrock of our economy and if we are able to apply technology, it will be best for us,” he explained.

No surprises

Also speaking on the programme, Executive Coach and Leadership Facilitator, Mr Chris Diaba, said the findings of the report did not come as a surprise.

“Any piece of work that focuses on measuring and helping us to be able to pinpoint potential areas that there are gaps and gives us the opportunity fill them is great so I commend them for this report.

He said the changing phase of work now was now mainly due to Covid-19.

“Covid-19 and its happenings did not so much become the factor that is impacting the future of work. What Covid-19 did was to speed up the process in a massive way.

“A lot of these companies knew that they needed to change how they work, it was more around what they particularly needed to change and the areas of focus. Covid-19 brought the reality very forcefully to us,” he stated.

Work is no longer place you go

Mr Diaba pointed out that work was no longer a place someone goes to but something the person does.

He said organisations must therefore accept that work is now about the content of what an employee does and not a location-based activity.

“organisations must rethink the focus and level of their investment into brick and mortar assets. They must change their performance management matrices to refocus on remote management and virtual leadership. There must be a shift from presenteeism to productivity,” he stated.

on sales being the most sought after function, he said everybody must aim at training to become a salesperson.

“Almost everything you do, the skill of selling is a very significant one and in these times when it is becoming increasingly significant, you must have the ability to convince and persuade customers in very real terms,” he stated.

Compliance

Also joining in the conversation, a Compliance Executive, Ms Doris Osae-Addo, said compliance was critical.

She urged businesses to put in place measures that would ensure the best business practices and keep the employees engaged.

“Businesses have had to be agile, they have to rethink areas such as internet security, and getting employees engaged and involved.

“Companies must educate and engage their employees and help them to appreciate the importance of data privacy, intellectual property and internet security as they set up meetings and work from home.

“Going forward, companies must have dedicated and independent compliance professional, serving as a watchdog, focusing on compliance testing and ensuring best business practices are adhered to,” she stated.