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After two years of working from home, South African employers want their staff to return to the office. The recent spike in return-to-work ultimatums and data on hiring activity over the last three months demonstrates this. According to the latest CareerJunction Employment Insights Report new office jobs such as administrative clerks, receptionists, personal assistants, and HR experts are in high demand.

Fundamental cause of employment rate increase in 2022

South African companies are hiring admin clerks, receptionists, personal assistants, and human resources (HR) personnel. This is a result of offices wake from a two-year slumber caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. So, many new office jobs have been created for South Africans in 2022.

The conclusion of South Africa’s state of disaster, which was established two years ago to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, signifies a return to normalcy. Almost all limitations have been abolished. And new government recommendations for a safe return to work have removed the majority of the difficulties that office-based businesses face in getting employees back to work.

While it’s unclear how companies will migrate their employees from full-time remote work to offices — hybrid work models that combine the two depending on the job appear to be the most likely. Corporations are looking to fill previously vacated desks.

The rise of return-to-work ultimatums among large and small to mid-size enterprises in South Africa reflects this pressure for employees to return to work. This trend was “definitely gaining steam,” Advaita Naidoo, managing director of executive recruitment agency Jack Hammer Global in Africa, told Cape Talk on Monday. [ ¹]

Reports according to CareerJunction Employment

With this return comes a renewed need for administrative and office support employees, as seen by the current CareerJunction Employment Insights Report’s hiring trends for the first quarter of 2022.

According to the survey, hiring activity has surged by 39% in the last year, with financial, business, and office-related roles seeing the most growth.

According to a newly released report, “administrative, office, and support has witnessed the most growth in employment activity.” [ ²]

“One reason for this could be that as Covid-19 regulations soften, a rising number of local enterprises are returning to a more office-bound working environment.”

New office jobs such as admin clerks, receptionists, personal assistants, and HR personnel have all seen a 17 percent increase in hiring activity in the last three months.

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Businesses are also trying to expand their finance departments, with hiring in bookkeeping, financial analysis, procurement, project accounting, and payroll processing up 10%. Business management jobs, as well as staff recruiting, have gotten a lot of attention, with hiring activity up 4%.

Professionals in account management, human resources, and project accounting are also getting better pay than a year ago.

Hiring in IT, on the other hand, has fallen by 3% since the lockdown, as businesses have shifted to remote operations. While all signs point to employees returning to the office, the analysis from CareerJunction points out that remote job options are unlikely to vanish.

“In the coming months, there may be a drop in remote work opportunities as a result of the recent lifting of the national state of disaster,” explained CareerJunction.

“However, the fact that many businesses have already invested in remote working technology to attract top talent and reduce office overhead costs means remote work is unlikely to disappear from the employment landscape any time soon.” [ ³]

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