The Future of Remote Work in Nigeria

Introduction

Remote work is when workers deliver duties from another location different from the office space like home, or coworking space. There are four types of remote work namely;

Fully remote: where a worker chooses where to work from without any expectations to visit the office.

Flexible work: workers take control over daily hours and location while working to deliver task rather than obeying 9-5 policy.

Hybrid remote work deals with splitting working from home and working physically at the office space.  

Work from anywhere is when worker don’t have any geographical restriction and can travel even while working.

Before the covid pandemic remote work wasn’t well known in Nigeria, during lockdown, workers were not allowed to work physically and then it became popular as a sudden means of survival for work by using tools like zoom.

According to research conducted by the American Community Survey (ACS) remote work skyrocket in the year 2019 to 2021.

The Growth Of Remote Job In Nigeria

Before the COVID pandemic, Nigeria business operated traditionally. Technology came in and then remote work was introduced, but remote work was practiced by few numbers of business.

From 2019 till date according to research, 14% of Nigeria business operates remotely while 31% do hybrid allowing workers balance business and also be able to tap into the digital world as well.

Nigeria is one of the Africa’s sources of remote talent for business organization. Young Nigerians who have professional skills are slowly taking over freelancing platforms like Upwork and LinkedIn to provide digital service to international client making use of the digital space to get jobs.

Importance Of Remote Work

1. It helps to improve work-life and helps individuals balance working and having time for their online store or business.
2. The company can no longer be limited to a worker’s presence, allowing employers access best talents anywhere across the globe.
3. It helps to cut down the cost of rent and helps to save massively.
4. It creates loyalty from the employee and reduces burnout, which helps in high performance
5. Reduces stress

War Remote Work Face In Nigeria

1. Unstable Power Supply: It requires a strong online presence most of the times, staying online to use some tools to work. Here is where electricity supply is needed to power gadgets so as to take up tasks and the low or no supply of electricity can reduce the workflow of an employee.
2. Bad Network Connection: Bad network affects workflow as poor electricity supply does.
3. Balancing work boundaries and working from home. Some employee gets too comfortable to work from home and can affect their availability to work while some finds it hard to concentrate to work from home,
4. The issue of cybersecurity.
5. Payment process: Employees who work for international clients finds t hard to receive payment due to restrictions from banks.

The Role Technology Plays In Remote Work

Technology has played a huge role in remote work by providing apps and gadgets to ease the job to make work easier and efficient. Tools like zoom and google meet are now use for video conference. AI (Artificial Intelligence) improves remote productivity by standing in to assist both employers and employee work efficiently, for example in a situation of language barrier AI helps to interpret for both parties to help with efficient communication.

Collaboration platform like Slack is used for online collaboration to organize team, distribute duties swiftly, and track progress.

Conclusion

Remote work has open a lot of opportunities for Nigerians which include work flexibility, reduce the limitation of a company’s workflow because of the absence of an employee. Business can now operate at full potential by employing experts from different part. Regardless, there are challenges faced by employee and employers working remotely, challenges like poor electricity power supply, poor internet connection, the risk of cybersecurity continue to affect effectiveness of remote work in Nigeria.

In spite of these challenges, it plays an important role in Nigeria economy. Technology keeps strengthening flexible work arrangement, remote employment is likely to spread across all industries. It has the power to create more job opportunities.

Nigerians should enforce themselves in acquiring digital skills such as software development, digital marketing, graphic design, cybersecurity, and also learn how the use AI efficiently. By doing these Nigerian Youth positions themselves for rewarding career and contribute to the nation’s growth development, and prepare themselves for the digital age ahead.