The ongoing expansion joint repairs on the Kara Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway have triggered severe gridlock across the city, prompting businesses to activate remote work models to salvage employee productivity and mitigate operational disruptions.
While the federal project covers a construction zone of merely 100 meters, its two-week phased timeline has paralysed commercial activities and once again exposed systemic failures in public works coordination and traffic management. The resulting traffic bottleneck has spilt into major transit corridors, congesting Ojodu-Berger, Magboro, Ogudu, Ikeja, and Ogba. The project’s timing has drawn sharp criticism from motorists and haulage operators, as construction coincided with activities of school resumption week- stretching commutes from OPIC and Berger to Victoria Island to as long as seven hours.
The resulting bottleneck directly impairs regional productivity, trapping thousands of industrial haulage trucks, commercial buses, and daily commuters who rely on this vital axis to transport goods, services, and labour.
Trapped on a commercial motorcycle amidst the standstill, Folarin Joseph, a tech worker and content creator, captured the collective exhaustion of the commuting public: “This is a Wednesday morning, and you can see how crazy the traffic is. This is Kara Bridge, and all of us are on bikes; we are in traffic, and all vehicles are at a standstill. It doesn’t make sense, Julius Berger. You are killing the economy and not helping it in any way, and we want this economy to be productive… we have been stuck for hours…”
Offering practical survival advice for commuters attempting to navigate the corridor, motorist Hammed Musa advised via Twitter, saying, “If you will drive, leave home very early by 5 am. The traffic wouldn’t be that heavy in the morning. Once you leave Kara bridge, you are good to go.”
Read also: FG begins Kara bridge repairs September 8, warns motorists
The operational fallout has forced corporate leaders and Human Resources (HR) managers to intervene to protect workforce well-being and business output. Commuting for hours in gridlock drains employee energy, elevates stress levels, and severely diminishes daily yield.
Addressing the necessity of employee-centred adaptations, Mojisola Olubunmi, an HR manager in the tech sector, noted, saying, “It is crucial. It is called the voice of the customer. Until people matter to us, our business will never matter to them.”.
Building on this, Adele Oluwagbenga, HR manager at a media company in Ogudu GRA said his company is currently implementing a flexible work arrangement. According to him, here is how it will be structured: “70 percent flexibility and 30 percent physical presence. For example:
60–70 percent of staff will work from home for two to three times a week. 20 to 30 percent of staff will operate on a hybrid and rotational work mode, while 10 to 20 percent of its employees will be on site for essential physical operations.”
He emphasised that the arrangement is temporary, measurable and role-specific.
“This is much more practical for our Ogudu-based media company than shutting the office down or forcing everybody through the Kara traffic. The key principle should be we are not reducing work but changing where and when work is performed so that traffic does not reduce productivity.”
“This also positions the company as an employer that responds intelligently to a real infrastructure problem rather than simply demanding that employees endure it”, he noted.
Segun Adeyemi, a senior HR consultant, emphasised that remote work policies must serve as an operational buffer during major infrastructure disruptions.
“When infrastructure failures cripple employee mobility, rigid presenteeism directly harms enterprise performance. Employers operating along heavily impacted corridors must proactively activate remote or hybrid work policies for roles that do not strictly require physical presence. Forcing staff to sit in three to four hours of gridlock before starting their workday drastically erodes mental health, lowers output, and increases burnout”, he said.
Chidi Joshua, an HR manager, warned that insisting on physical attendance during severe transit bottlenecks is counterproductive.
“An employee who spends four hours inhaling fumes in traffic arrives at the desk is mentally exhausted before the workday even begins. As an HR leader, I have asked line managers to judge output rather than seat time and provide flexible start hours or full work-from-home options during this period as an operational survival strategy,” he said.
Highlighting the psychological impact, Yetunde Kanu, PhD, talent management specialist and organisational psychologist, added, “Chronic commuting stress directly correlates with workforce absenteeism and rising health claims. When major arteries like the Kara Bridge are restricted, the psychological toll on workers is immediate.”
According to her, organisations that refuse to implement contingency remote-work frameworks during known infrastructure bottlenecks are actively harming their human capital. Flexibility during crises is a duty-of-care obligation.
