Andrew Watson: The 'most influential' black footballer for decades lost to history

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  By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen

One of South Africa’s biggest banks is making a permanent work-from-home shift

 

Nedbank has informed staff of a planned shift in its workforce structure, with a number of employees set to continue working from home after the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a notice sent to a number of employees last week, the bank said that envisages a ’60/40 split’ which will see only 60% of staff work from one of its campuses on any given day.

In an emailed response to BusinessTech questions, Nedbank said that the change is in line with its ‘digital-first and first in digital’ aspiration.

“Nedbank has been on a journey over the past few years, rethinking its operating model and ways of working to keep up with the changing world and world of work,” said Deb Fuller, group executive of Human Resources.

“Subsequently, Nedbank has gradually introduced new Ways of Work and incorporated flexible work practices.”

Now, due to Covid-19, many Nedbank employees are already doing some form of remote work, she said.

“This has given Nedbank an opportunity to accelerate its aspirations, scale its digital workplace in a way that delivers the greatest value for all stakeholders, as well as formally adopt a hybrid workforce model.”

A 60/40 split

Fuller said that Nedbank’s corporate real estate team has reviewed international research and that this will inform the bank’s post-Covid approach and its new ‘hybrid workforce’ model.

“For us, a ‘hybrid workforce model’ means that we will have a portion of our workforce who will remain working from a Nedbank office or branch based site, a portion of our staff who will work remotely and another portion of our staff that will follow a blended approach whereby they move between working at home and the office,” she said.

Fuller said that Nedbank’s property portfolio is planning to accommodate a 60/40 split of onsite/offsite workers to accommodate office-bound and remote workers in the offices.

“We believe that the role of many of our offices has changed. As such some of our staff will collaborate rather than work from behind a screen, which can be done from home.

“Nedbank’s new ways of working promotes an office environment of innovation and collaboration that consists of activity-based environments that are digitally enabled.

“Employees will book office space, meeting rooms or seats, according to the functions they need to perform while onsite,” she said.


Read: South Africans are struggling to pay off their credit cards – here’s how much they owe

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