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Delta Milayo Ndou #Digitaldialogue

Telecommuting simply means that one’s skill can be used to service the needs of clients in remote locations, beyond state borders and without the hassle of meeting immigration law requirements or work permit applications. If the seemingly minimal numbers of locally based Zimbabweans who are invested in acquiring digital skills or adopting new technologies is anything to go by, we are arguably a long way from embracing opportunities the digital labour market can avail.There are certain digital skills that can equip one to work remotely and earn a living from the comfort of their home with just a reliable Internet connection to facilitate their operations. The concept of the remote job is gaining popularity wherein companies or organisations are willing to hire workers on flexible terms or in a “telecommuting” capacity with clear deliverables outlined so that remote workers meet their contractual obligations and earn their keep.

Telecommuting refers to working from a remote location outside the traditional office, leveraging on communication technologies such as instant messaging or Skype to ensure this type of work arrangement is in sync with those operating from the office. Telecommuting often means one can work from home, the library, a coffee shop or Internet café, basically any location other than the traditional office — and being able to do so requires one to have the digital literacy to use devices, the digital skills to execute necessary tasks and more importantly, resources such as data to work online. Having worked in two telecommuting roles in recent years, I can attest to the fact that being a digital labourer affords a greater degree of operational flexibility, career choice and creates greater opportunities for upskilling.

In my first telecommuting role, I worked as an online community manager for a publishing company that had over 20 000 academics (students, researchers and lecturers) congregating online to discuss and share ideas on their varying fields of study. My job was to engage them in their various disciplines and basically attend to their unique needs as a community of scholars.

I was only required to show up at the office once a month for the departmental meetings. otherwise my work was done from home. My second telecommuting role was a social media editor role that I carried out remotely for 10 months whilst living in another country. It was quite a convenient and rewarding work arrangement, made possible by the fact that I am immersed in cyberspace and am a digital labourer who thrives online.

Digital Jobs Africa — training and employing Digital Labourers

In 2013, The Rockefeller Foundation launched its Digital Jobs Africa (DJA) initiative to catalyse new, sustainable employment opportunities and skills training for Africa youth, with a focus on the ICT sector. Whereas in 2016, Google Inc scaled up its digital skills training programmes to accommodate a million Africans in the next year, aiming to deal with high unemployment numbers on the continent. The common thread in these endeavours is to train and employ digital labourers who, through impact sourcing, can find employment opportunities online for jobs across geographic and sectorial boundaries.

Initiatives such as the DJA seek to leverage on digital platforms to connect talent with jobs and in the context of Zimbabwe, such initiatives would involve ensuring that young Zimbabweans have the necessary digital knowledge to become highly skilled potential remote employees. I am particularly impressed by one young man who works for an American tech company from the comfort of his room in the Famona suburb of Bulawayo, where his ZOL Internet connection is his professional lifeline.

He doesn’t have an American work permit, has never even been to America, but was last month voted one of the most efficient workers by his employer because he manages to close more tickets than his colleagues. He did get some help in getting the job as a sister who is based in the US recommended him to that company, but the crucial point is he has the skills to deliver and he has the Internet access to take advantage of the opportunity. Is Zimbabwe cultivating any digital labourers? Is there a deliberate thrust with regards employment creation that is linked to the digital labour market?

And which private and public sector stakeholders can step up and consider rolling out initiatives such as the Rockefeller Foundation’s DJA and Google Inc’s digital skills training programmes for Zimbabwean youth? Can the relevant ministries explore the opportunities to create digital labourers that can take advantage of the personnel on demand job offers that are available online?

There is a growing appeal for a crowd-sourced market of workers that can help to complete work on an as-needed basis and digital labourers are strategically placed to tap into such employment opportunities. Projections from other parts of the world include a Virgin Media Business survey that predicted that by 2022, 60 percent of the workforce could be clocking in from home, and according to The Guardian, many of employees think that by 2036, the daily commute will be a thing of the past.

Of course, these projections are far removed from the contexts of sub-Saharan Africa, where data is pricey although Internet and mobile penetration is slowly rising — the digital divide still exists. However, these obstacles should not preclude us from considering the endless possibilities of tapping into the digital labour market and equipping our own young people to compete favourably against their counterparts in African countries that are getting a helping hand from entities such as the Rockefeller Foundation and Google Inc.

The age of the “gig” economy

Apart from full-time telecommuting employment opportunities, the digital labour market also facilitates what is known as the “gig economy”, where part-time or freelance workers are hired as needed to remotely execute tasks. Platforms such as Fiverr, Toptal, and Freelancer.com amongst others connect digital labourers to work opportunities on a freelance and short-term contractual basis.

Toptal, for example, claims to represent the top 3 percent of freelance developers, designers, and business talent, connecting them with thousands of top companies around the globe whilst Fiverr will let you find or offer services (eg. proofreading, editing, graphic design, SEO, video editing, etc) from as little as $5. All you need is to have the necessary skills to provide a service and Internet access of course. For longer-term employ, there are platforms such as FlexJobs.Com, WeWorkRemotely, WorkingNomads and Staff.Com that enable digital labourers to connect with potential remote employers.

I know of a young graphic and web designer who is based in South Africa, hails from Bulawayo and has clientele list encompassing companies in Zimbabwe, Canada and Australia. Telecommuting simply means that one’s skill can be used to service the needs of clients in remote locations, beyond state borders and without the hassle of meeting immigration law requirements or work permit applications.

Technology outpaces some of these barriers to employment such as the need to apply for a work permit, move to another country, look for a new home and get acquainted with a different locale in pursuit of a living. It is possible that in the future, telecommuting and providing highly skilled digital labour to remote employers could be the panacea to unemployment. But it begins with fast, affordable and reliable Internet access, widespread digital literacy, reasonably priced technological gadgets and some visionary leadership from the nation’s ICT stakeholders.

Delta is Head of Digital at Zimpapers. Follow her on Twitter: @deltandou