Although the lockdown has been gradually eased, not every company is fully back to the 9-5 routine. There are many ways through which various employees have started to feel the pain, understand the sacrifices and appreciate efforts put into making the workplace comfortable for their employees.

The lockdown necessitated the shutdown of many physical office locations and the era of Work from Home began. I remember that some years ago, MTN Nigeria conducted internal user acceptance testing for a product called Small Office/Home Office (SOHO). One could have assumed that such a product foresaw this period that we are in. The lockdown saw many homes become beehives of daily activity.

For those in the creative unit of many companies, they are required to produce graphics or videos with very high resolutions, and they are to share them through e-mail, they do not have the option of taking the creative by flash drive currently. They must upload the document before finally releasing it, with the prayer that there will be little or no review, which is almost impossible.

The abundance of virtual meeting apps has also come into the mix; previously, everyone was expected to travel from one location to another for a meeting, but now physical distancing rules apply. There are meetings of various lengths conducted using data. Interestingly, these meetings are not time-bound; they are not limited in duration.

The debate about the expensive cost of data in Nigeria has been brought a close with this current reality. Many of those involved in that debate had a routine that has changed now. They were those who use their mobile data sparingly- early in the morning till they get to work, when they will connect with the data of the office, and on their return trip to the house, and on weekends. However, the change in demand for data from official to the school’s e-learning is now in vogue.

The mobile telephony companies are really smiling at the bank, and I am sure many Internet Service Providers who serve the corporate bodies would be losing their cool with the endless Work from Home. Their employees might not have been exempt from the various job cuts in town.

What many people had taken for granted for many years, the streaming of music on YouTube, the downloading of movies, and the perusal of social media intermittently are now being done at one’s expense. It is well known that some companies have granted limited or completely blocked social media access to their staff.

As the world continues to battle for survival, everyone is looking for ways to trim their expenses, but the need for data keeps rising. Unfortunately, some networks won’t let you access the internet once you have 100 MB left, because the more you subscribe, the better it is for them.

A friend was trying to justify the money spent on data, the person said it is a substitution for her monthly transport fare but this is relative. There are some people whose offices are not far from their residences; this assumption might not work for them. Equally, the fare of someone who fuels the car cannot be compared to that of someone who uses commercial vehicles, not even at a time when the cost of transportation had doubled.

The data game continues; many employees will explore work-from-home options more because this mode of work has reduced some of their running costs. The future of work keeps unfolding, and many things that were never anticipated have become reality. As we keep exploring the new world order, data consciousness cannot be taken away from the mind of the employee, and I am sure the employees are glad that people can place a premium on data.