Work is Love Made Visible

“Work is Love Made Visible”- Kahlil Gibran

I feel like the luckiest person because I love what I do. It is like I never worked a day in my life, and when work is like play, it is so much fun. You can really be creative and make your love visible.

The two things we are in total control of in life are our attitude and our effort.

The common denominator between all successful entrepreneurs is discipline and a great work ethic, so it makes sense that if we spend a substantial portion of our day working, it should be something we love doing and fun. DSG’s brand essence is “Serious Fun.”

As digital natives, we have always had a flexible working style and hours whereby working from home is not a new concept for my team, and we, in fact, started Digital Mall from my house in 1998, until it became too big a year later and we moved to offices.

In 2000 when we sold a 50.1% share in Digital Mall to iTouch and listed on the FTSE to expand internationally, we had offices in Africa, Europe and Australasia. Working in various locations and time zones often meant long days and, therefore, a “hybrid working environment. “

The ‘work-from-anywhere’ concept is therefore not new, but since the pandemic, it was almost validated and widely accepted, so there is a new trend that was created for travel to combine work and leisure or a “workcation.”

Our adaptability during the pandemic has positioned us well to enjoy a break that combines work and play.

As Simon Sinek put it so accurately, “The goal is not simply to ‘work hard, play hard. The goal is to make our work and our play indistinguishable. “

I recently travelled to the Middle East and Europe, which was perfect timing as it is summer there and winter in South Africa. Due to the increase in Covid cases, most corporates, as a precaution, moved back to ‘online meetings only’ so I was not missed and had a wonderful time having face-to-face meetings in the various countries I visited and online meetings keeping up with the African operations.

You feel more inspired to work when you can start your morning on the beach in an amazing location like Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt before meetings begin, and later, while the day is scorching hot, I attend meetings in the air-conditioned room of the hotel.

When the workday is over, you get to enjoy the rest of the long summer days and chase the most beautiful sunsets in magnificent locations like Santorini.

Finding balance is easier in a flexible work arrangement. When employees have more control of their work schedules, they can free up time to take care of their personal lives.

Hybrid working raises concerns that culture and leadership may suffer, but we can mitigate the risk by adapting and ensuring that leadership is connecting with employees and collaborating with them in new ways to ensure empowerment and accountability.

Rethinking your workplace strategy can help you lower real estate costs by 30%. This allows you to reinvest those cost savings elsewhere, like providing more work options for employees in satellite offices and smaller co-working spaces.

We decided to create a new co-working environment for our various group companies in Parkhurst that encourage our team to come into the office a few times a week for meetings.

We invested in solar in the building to support staff productivity that might be impeded by load-shedding, and we employed a chef to make nutritious food and ensure our employees are calm with our “Chilled” ice cream 😉

We developed an employee app that enhances employee engagement and is focused on employee wellness. It provides employee self-service features and other utilities such as online shopping via www.digitalmall.com, online bill payments, and employee discounts and rewards.

In a hybrid work model, your company can hire talent from around the globe. Access to a broader talent pool means hiring people with specialized skills. This can give your organization a competitive edge and help you move into new markets.

An effective hybrid work model requires us to balance the right people, processes, and technology, re-invent the employee value proposition, and increase focus on employee engagement.

When employees love what they do they #DoingSomethingGreat