In the spirit of solidarity, South African tech start-up, WorkWide, has developed a free version of its Workforce Management Mobile Application to assist businesses in dealing with lockdown efforts, social distancing and working from home. The local company wanted to offer its software platform gratis to South Africa (and the rest of the world) to assist in flattening the curve and help businesses manage their mobile workforce.

Byron Christopher, the Managing Director of WorkWide, explains: “We are a small business comprising of seven passionate South Africans who were wanting to help in this time of crisis. Since we are slightly hampered in our own business, we thought of what we could focus our energy on in the lockdown, and the answer was obvious - to help our fellow South Africans by making sure we do whatever is in our power to #FlattenTheCurve. In the space of a few days, we configured our platform with a very simple checklist that enforces lockdown in an easy, friendly and auditable way.”

The app will support lockdowns around the world by identifying employee health risks in real time, making sure that people are staying at home and are located where they say they are as well as maintaining work productivity levels. 

Christopher fully empathises with businesses who have the responsibility to both flatten the curve, monitor employee wellbeing at home and maintain business continuity.

“The lockdown is not a holiday and we all need to stay energised and productive, especially in such times of uncertainty. Our free employee tool has three parts; a health checklist or symptom tracker (in line with the WHO guidelines), a work update on completed tasks and tasks in progress, as well as a fun social media element where employees can upload selfies and are congratulated for staying at home and flattening the curve. These daily check-ins ensure that early cases or trends can be dealt with immediately. It takes two minutes to complete, so no additional admin and no micromanagement required.”

This easy to use administration portal gives managers an overview of the health of their employees where they can spot virus trends and assist potentially ill employees. It shows employees that their employers care about their health. Furthermore, the app can pinpoint employee locations, making sure that they are working from home and respecting lockdown protocol. They will see a geographic depiction of areas where there may be concentrated outbreaks.

The COVID-19 app is free and is not only limited to South Africa, it can be used globally. Visit https://workwidemobile.com/ to view its features and click on the #FlattenTheCurve link to get the free app.

WorkWide wishes you and your loved ones well in this collective drive to #FlattenTheCurve where we are physically separated, but side-by-side in every other way. Stay Home. Stay Safe and Stay Healthy. Together we will beat this.