The report explores the pandemic-era experiences of Ugandan enterprises in four key areas: 

1. Working space: an average of 28 per cent of employees worked remotely during the pandemic, while some enterprises largely retained in-person work modalities. Many other enterprises opted for a hybrid approach, with both remote and in-person work. Employers rolled out video conferencing services to facilitate communications of all types. The shift to remote work created new costs for both employers and employees, and as the survey found, many enterprises supported the costs of both. Many companies established health and safety features, and the report finds that the changes to working space positively impacted production efficiency.

2. Workplace relations: According to the findings, the pandemic helped build trust and understanding between workers and employers. Four out of five enterprises held dialogues about workplace health and safety. However, there were also many challenges, including a more flexible workforce.

3. Skills development, knowledge sharing, and productivity: Soft skills became more important, as well as digital skills and multitasking abilities, and flexibility. Ninety-three per cent of employers will focus on outputs as their key measure of productivity in the future, while very few enterprises are still closely monitoring the number of hours employees spend working.

4. Human resources: Enterprises understand that the mental and emotional well-being of workers is closely intertwined with the successful operations of the enterprise, even if very few have already established a right-to-disconnect policy on the right of employees to go offline on nights and weekends.

More than four in ten enterprises noted that their hiring criteria now include new groups of workers who were not previously considered - such as fully remote employees not living near the enterprise.

Douglas Opio, the FUE Executive Director, highlighted that the report would be an integral part and benchmark for employers to align business operations and maximise productivity, which is still low due to several factors, including lack of business records and competent people and low wage levels.

In his remarks, Gary Rynhart, ILO Senior Employers' Specialist, said the report presents an opportunity to improve workplace relations. He advised employers to embrace flexible work, digitalisation, occupational health, and safety to minimise high operation costs and enhance employee retention.