The end of work-from-home in South Africa

The big trend of working from home is beginning to fade in South Africa, mirroring trends observed in major international corporations.

A recent announcement by JP Morgan Chase—the largest bank in the United States—mandated a full return to office work for all employees, ending years of flexible and hybrid arrangements.

This follows similar moves by Amazon, Dell, the Washington Post, and Citigroup.

Locally, Vodacom also scrapped remote and hybrid work for senior staff in the past year, indicating a growing shift back to traditional office environments.

CareerJunction’s Employment Insights Report for the fourth quarter of 2024 provides a detailed look into South Africa’s remote work trends, showing a steady decline in work-from-home opportunities despite isolated pockets of growth in certain sectors.

The report highlights that in 2019, remote or hybrid work was almost non-existent, with just 0.2% of job vacancies offering such flexibility.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a surge in remote job roles, leading to significant adoption across industries.

Despite this initial boom, a gradual decline in remote work has been evident since 2023.

While 4.3% of all job listings were remote or hybrid in 2023, this figure dropped to 3.7% in 2024, with indications that the trend will continue.

This decline aligns with broader global trends as companies re-evaluate productivity, collaboration, and operational efficiency.

Even though remote work is shrinking overall, the tech sector remains a stronghold for remote work in South Africa.

CareerJunction’s findings reveal that IT still holds the highest number of remote job vacancies, followed by Business & Management, Sales, Finance, and Admin, Office & Support roles.

Remote work in IT has grown significantly, from just 2.3% of job listings in 2019 to 11.5% in 2024, making it the most resilient sector for work-from-home opportunities.

Key roles within the IT sector that have seen notable increases in remote work include technical and business architecture, software development, UX design, database design, development, and administration.

The REDi Holbourne Recruitment Group supports these findings, noting that companies continue to invest heavily in tech talent to keep up with digital innovation and cybersecurity demands.

Sarah van der Walt, a senior consultant at REDi Recruitment, pointed out that South Africa’s tech industry is facing a major skills shortage, especially at management levels.

Many experienced professionals are leaving the country, training opportunities are limited, and the demand for skilled IT workers remains high.

Because of this, remote work has become a useful way for companies to find and keep top talent.

Beyond some pockets in the tech sector, the broader South African job market has experienced a slowdown in hiring activity throughout 2024.

CareerJunction’s report notes that recruitment levels in the fourth quarter of 2024 were similar to those in the third quarter, with year-on-year vacancy numbers continuing to decline.

This suggests that while remote work remains viable in specific industries, the overall job market is contracting, further reducing the prevalence of work-from-home roles.

The shift away from remote work reflects a larger global recalibration as businesses reassess productivity, company culture, and collaboration needs.

While tech remains a rare bright spot for remote opportunities, the general trend suggests that South Africa is following the international movement back toward office-based work, signalling the end of the pandemic-driven remote work era.