Wired868 Wired868 for smart sport news and opinion
“[…] We need to move some work out of the city to ease the traffic choke hold on this island every weekday. I’ve argued previously that ‘the daily Great Trek’ north and west to Port of Spain and back is a mad and unsustainable ritual.
“[…] State and private sector entities will find solutions of best fit. Outside of not coming to the office, those could include having Ramesh in Gasparillo take part in the 8.30am team meeting via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and head to work in Port of Spain at 10.30am, in lighter traffic. It could mean making a deal with Faye: she could work through lunch and leave at 2pm…”
The following guest column was submitted by Orin Gordon, a media and business consultant who can be reached at orin@oringordon.com:
The decentralisation of work in Trinidad needs to be accompanied by the decentralisation of workplaces. The time has come for the big employers—state and private sector companies—to actively explore and make serious efforts to move big offices and commercial operations out of Port of Spain.
Not tinkering at the edges. Big statement moves. That would include head offices and large, highly-staffed ministries. Agriculture to Chaguanas was obvious. Think bigger.
I’m going to get some pushback on this. The commercial rental market in the capital is significantly bigger than in other parts of the country. Property owners would feel pain. And it’s not just workers who come into town, it’s customers for businesses—whether they’re in standalone properties, malls or downtown.
Big moves out are not easy. Where else in the country would you find commercial space for all of the state workers who populate Nicholas Towers?
If you decide to develop, say, Charlieville, as a new hub, won’t you have to build new buildings to accommodate relocated workers? You’re not going to get all of the answers here. And if I’m to see all sides of a less than straightforward issue, as I should, I have to be prepared to argue against myself.
We need to move some work out of the city to ease the traffic choke hold on this island every weekday. I’ve argued previously that “the daily Great Trek” north and west to Port of Spain and back is a mad and unsustainable ritual, and that it contributes to the case for more work from home (WfH) arrangements for the companies and employees that can have it.
Globally, WfH is a conversation we’ve been having for decades, but pandemic lockdown forced us to take a more serious look at it. Lockdown showed many T&T employers that they could still operate at a functional level with staffers working from home.
Not every company can embrace WfH. Restaurant waiting staff and shop workers can’t. Some workers to whom companies can extend the facility, simply cannot be relied on to deliver under it. But in general—and here the Point Lisas-based executive I quoted previously is worth quoting again—“the initial anxiety over productivity would be affected has now been proven to be unwarranted”.
On the other hand, lockdown made others realise that they preferred to work mostly in a work environment away from domestic distractions, and what they really craved was flexible work times, or a shorter work week.
State and private sector entities will find solutions of best fit. Outside of not coming to the office, those could include having Ramesh in Gasparillo take part in the 8.30am team meeting via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and head to work in Port of Spain at 10.30am, in lighter traffic.
It could mean making a deal with Faye: she could work through lunch and leave at 2pm.
(Copyright Glasbergen.com)
But whatever our best fit with flexible working is, we’d simply be rearranging deckchairs on the sinking cruise ship if we did not address the powerful daily pull of commuters into Port of Spain. Workplace decentralisation must be seen as a serious alleviative option, even if the effort that it would take to make a difference would be considerable.
Let’s restate the relevant context. Car dealers sold at least 13,000 vehicles every year for much of the past decade. That figure jumped past 20,000 in 2016. There are more than one million vehicle registrations in T&T.
The population is 1.4 million. T&T ranks 46th highest out of 234 countries according to World Bank measures of population density, at just under 300 people per square km. This is a small island, and its road capacity is not expanding. It has no trains or other forms of mass transit. Almost all transport has been shunted onto the roadways.
(Copyright Jake Fuller/ Cayman Compass)
Let me argue against myself again. Shouldn’t alleviative decentralisation apply to other high-traffic centres such as San Fernando and Chaguanas?
Besides, big companies like Ansa McAl are naturally, effectively decentralised, because they have geographically varied property portfolios across a range of sectors. The same goes for the government, a major employer. Different parts of the Ministry of Finance, for example, have offices in various parts of T&T.
But think of what a big statement an Ansa McAl would make if it moved its head office from Maraval Road to central Trinidad. Or that the government would make if it moved a couple of major ministries out of Port of Spain, lock stock and barrel.
Moving offices would be disruptive for some. In a previous work life at the BBC, management moved the large sports department from west London to a new facility, Media City in Greater Manchester. Some staffers left because changing cities was not an option. They had big, set things in their lives. Their children’s schooling. Mortgages they were close to paying off.
(Copyright Andertoons.com)
BBC has now done the same with its Business units. Cue more resignations.
As much as relocation would cause inconvenience for some workers here, commuting from Diego Martin to Charlieville wouldn’t be disruptive on the same level, and would be going against the tide.
There’s also an economic argument. State entities especially have a responsibility to spread economic opportunity. New offices and the workers they bring mean business for sellers of lunchtime sandwiches and rotis in that area. A government has to see that as a necessary thing.
“[…] The number one complaint I get from women I asked about wining protocol is about men who don’t how Read more
“[…] If it was unsafe for schools to stay open, why were the non-essential businesses allowed to stay open with Read more
“[…] We had fun doing Zoom meetings in our boxer shorts, out of sight of the camera; but some realised Read more
“[…] There are no economic findings that I’m aware of, on how much the country loses by having a significant Read more
“[…] Pfizer is widely perceived to be at the top of the tree, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson just beneath Read more
I am glad that Orin has the awareness that this is a very complex issue. However, he has made some very interesting suggestions. I particularly like the arrangements for Ramesh and Faye.
Flexitime and work from home, where practical, will help.
The arrangements with respect to the agriculture ministry are understandable, given where most of that activity takes place.
However, I do not think it is very practical, for example, to move the finance ministry out of Port of Spain (POS). The PM’s office, and official residence are in POS. Parliament is in POS. Need I say more.
When decentralisation takes place, there must be the supporting infrastructure.
Under the last UNC admin., the government printery was moved to Caroni. A similar situation to what was experienced by the BBC employees occurred.
Given the remoteness of the chosen location, there were a number of challenges including:-
* Difficulty accessing transportation to and from work.
In this regard, it is my understanding that the government undertook the additional expense of a shuttle service to the location (a case of the candle costing more than the funeral), but more than one trip had to be made by the same vehicle as a consequence of which those employees on the later trip(s) often enough arrived late to work through no fault of their own.
* A long lonely trek out to the main road; a security risk issue
* Poor access to restaurants/eateries, and itinerant food vendors
* Location was, and still is prone to severe flooding
* Too distant from, for example, Parliament where documents might be required on an urgent basis.
I have noted that the transport minister has indicated that he is pursuing the establishment of a bus/maxi taxi exclusive lane, in both directions, on the north/south highway.
This arrangement has worked very well in Switzerland. Every day, at peak times, the buses are crowded with persons attired in business suits and armed with their briefcases/laptops. The unfortunate few who use their own vehicles have to face the horrendous traffic similar to what prevails, at present, in our north/south trek, in T&T, if not worse.
We are all fed up with committees/consultations. However, it may be appropriate to address this matter vía that mechanism, and the public could be invited to submit creative ideas/solutions for the consideration of an appropriate committee.
I started to work in POS in 1979. The traffic is not much different today than it was back then. No government saw it fit to take some of the Caroni lands and build a complex housing the main government offices or sub offices. It’s because the people from POS don’t want to venture south of the Caroni bridge. Think about the man hours and the pollution on those long hours in traffic. One company I worked for offered flex time as well as 9/80, which is work 9 hours for 9 days and get the 10th day as an off day. Covid-19 has shown that work can be done remotely due to technology. We also need to consider work life balance. There is no joy taking 3 hours to complete a50 km journey