Over the last couple of weeks, we have undergone another round of severe load shedding, and it appears that this will keep happening for some time. While Eskom might have plans in place to restore its generation capacity, these plans will take five to ten years to come to fruition, if at all.

The reality is that employers are forced to deal with the consequences of load shedding, whether they like it or not, and have to learn to shift to this new way of doing things. What does South African labour law have to say about all of this?

It’s no secret that load shedding has a significantly negative impact on businesses and on the economy as a whole. In many cases, it undermines one’s ability to carry out work.

Here are some ways to mitigate the impact that load shedding has on your business from a staff perspective.

Decentralise Your Workforce

If you can decentralise your workforce and allow them to work from home, this can mitigate the impact of load shedding. However, one of the risks involved is that not all of your employees will have access to alternative power sources when working from home, which may render them unable to do their work.

However, by decentralising your staff, you do somewhat spread the risk and lower the potential impact it could have on your business.

Use Alternative Power

In many cases, remote working is not possible, such as in the retail sector. In such cases, it might be well worth investing in alternative energy supply, such as generators or solar panels, to keep the lights on during load shedding. If you can do this, then it’s business as usual in terms of your staff.

Think Outside The Box

If you do not have access to an alternative power supply or can’t afford one, you are faced with a workforce that cannot work while the power is out, despite them being on the clock.

In South African labour law, employers are obligated to pay employees for their time at work regardless of whether they are able to do their work or not ‒ if it is beyond their control. In other words, if an employee dutifully shows up for work but is rendered unable to do their job because of a machinery breakdown or a power outage, they still need to be paid.

Naturally, paying employees with no returns in terms of work done can be quite detrimental to the sustainability of your business. In such cases, it is advisable to adopt a flexible approach to minimise the negative impact on your business and maximise the opportunities that present themselves.

Ask yourself: Are there tasks that can be done without power? Examples might include packing inventory, reorganising shelves, carrying out training or conducting staff meetings.

Some of these tasks can be done without the need for electricity. Therefore, if you plan your workdays carefully, you can use the load shedding downtime productively.

Other ways of mitigating the impact of load shedding could be to amend shift times to coincide with load shedding schedules so that shifts end just as the power goes out, while new shifts start when the power comes back on. These techniques could help you minimise the damage that load shedding could do to your company.

For more information on managing your workforces during load shedding and ensuring that labour law principles are not bucked