Exploring employee well-being during the COVID-19 remote work: evidence from South Africa (original) (raw)
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Social Science Review, 2021
This paper examined remote-work among employees of five categorised organisations in Rivers State to determine its potential impact on their psychosocial wellbeing and work preference during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The descriptive method was used as a research design for the study while the JD-R model was adopted as a theoretical frame to assess employees' well-being.A quantitative method of data collection was employed using an on-line questionnaire (N=368). Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed positive employees' psychosocial wellbeing as they enjoyed the whole idea of remote work because it avails them the liberty to work from any location. Hence, respondents affirmed their likeness for remote work and would want to sometimes, work remotely even after the pandemic. The employees' highest benefit was the ability to have a flexible schedule, not sticking to the usual workplace schedule, the ability to spend time with family since they do not have to commute to the workplace often, but could still do their office-jobs. The biggest challenge is 'finding a reliable internet provider or WIFI'. It is recommended that periodic remote work with and better internet facilities should form part of the organisational employee motivation-concerns to boost the wellbeing of the employees.
The Impact of Remote Working During the COVID-19 Epidemic on Employee Well-being
Multidisciplinary Aspects of Production Engineering, 2021
The aim of the research was to answer the question whether the remote work imposed on workers during the COVID-19 epidemic has an impact on their well-being, and if so, how. The research material consisted of the results of a survey conducted among the employees referred to remote work in connection with the announced state of the epidemic in Poland. The research was conducted in the period from July 31 to August 19, 2020. The research was conducted using a questionnaire method, the study was attended by 199 respondents. A survey questionnaire was used in the study and the results obtained were statistically processed. The research carried out allowed us to obtain the results of the self-assessment of employees referred to work in the homme-office in terms of their mental well-being and physical well-being.
The study aims to enrich employers' understanding of how employees perceive remote working Post COVID-19's quarantine period and its effect on employees' psychological wellbeing and work-life integration in Egypt. A structured questionnaire was distributed post-COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period on a sample of 318 employees who are supposed to be working remotely in different sectors from home. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to test the research hypotheses. The results suggest a significant positive effect of employees' perception of remote working on psychological wellbeing and work-life integration. Simultaneously, there is a significant negative effect of employees' perception of remote working and emotional exhaustion. This study should help employers design the appropriate intervention plan to sustain operations and maintain effective communication with remote workers. It contributes to the literature by considering it as one of the growing empirical studies that will tackle remote working in relation to employee psychological wellbeing and work-life integration Post-COVID-19 quarantine period in Egypt. The majority of research nowadays tackling COVID-19 is from a biomedical perspective, focusing on physical and mental health, but this research will tackle COVID-19 from a psychological and managerial standpoint. The research results will assist researchers and practitioners in gaining insights into the future role of remote working.
Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 2021
Purpose-A sudden shift of work from the office to home amid global lockdown demands exploration of factors that facilitate or obstruct remote working and their impact on practical and psychological outcomes for the employee when individual mandatorily telecommutes full-time with no prior experience of the same. Based on job demands and resources model (JD-R), the present study explores the role of certain job demands and resources on negative and positive outcomes through mediating role of strain and well-being, respectively. Design/methodology/approach-A data sample of 371 IT sector employees was collected and confirmatory factor analysis model was run to assess the model fit indices, convergent and divergent validities of the data. While proposed hypotheses of the study were tested using structural equations modeling (SEM) technique. Findings-It was found that workload pressure, task interdependence, professional isolation and family interference in work lead to exhaustion and further stress, whereas the presence of autonomy and schedule flexibility and sufficient technology resources improve employee work-life balance and further better productivity and performance and job satisfaction. Improved well-being was also found to reduce stress for full-time telecommuters. Practical implications-This study provides implications that will help in doing away with exhaustion and stress for employees and ensure business continuity in emergencies like COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value-There are no past instances of mandatory full-time telecommuting arrangement by organizations, and researchers never had the opportunity to study it. This research, based on the JD-R model provides for the first time empirical insights into the experiences of mandatory full-time telecommuting during COVID-19 induced lockdown.
SA Journal of Human Resource Management
Orientation: Remote work recently gained traction globally due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, however, not all companies promptly adapted to this.Research purpose: The study investigated the perceived influence of working remotely on employee productivity and performance management in South Africa.Motivation for the study: The ambivalent trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic and its long-term accompanying impacts have rendered research topics around the subject pertinent.Research approach, design, and method: A quantitative research approach was employed, and the sample population included remote workers within three South African provinces, between the ages of 18 and 65. The sampling method employed was purposive sampling with a complementary snowball sampling approach.Main findings: The results revealed that respondents preferred working remotely, as this was more convenient and cost efficient for them. However, respondents indicated that remote working caused ...
IAEME Publication, 2020
using research survey instrument, an undisguised questionnaire. The eight independent factors Team work, Communication, Peer, Job related factors, Organization Policies, Organization Climate, Job Satisfaction, Psychological factors dependent factor psychological wellbeing of the employees. The Psychological wellbeing was measured using the modified and shortened version of 18-item version scale of Ryff and Keyes using six factors-Self-acceptance, Personal growth, Purpose in life, Environmental mastery, Autonomy and Positive relations with others. The survey instrument validity Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 373 editor@iaeme.com and reliability was assessed using Cronbach alpha (overall C-alpha measured at 0.92) for all the items and Split-Half (odd-even) Correlation 0.82 whereas Split-Half with Spearman-Brown Adjustment at 0.94. The results from the General Linear Model Multivariate analysis indicate Communication, Organization climate, Organization Policies, Job Satisfaction and Psychological factors significantly influencing the psychological wellbeing of employees in information technology sector during the survey period of Covid-19 pandemic.
Remote workers’ wellbeing in the age of COVID-19
Anais Estendidos do XVII Simpósio Brasileiro de Sistemas Colaborativos (SBSC Estendido 2021)
Social isolation measures used worldwide to reduce the impacts of COVID-19 led many office workers to work remotely with little notice. While researchers have studied remote collaboration for more than two decades, the scale and context of remote work during a pandemic is unprecedented and has changed personal and work dynamics. In this paper, we discuss a survey study investigating the impact of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, informed by Olson & Olson's framework for distributed collaboration. We report preliminary findings from this study, focusing specifically on workers' wellbeing. Our results suggest that the main factors influencing workers' well beings are Common Ground Challenges, Collaboration Readiness, Collaboration Technology Readiness, Organizational Management, and Interruptions.
Journal of business and management studies, 2022
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world took several safety measures, including enforced confinement to check the spread of the disease. These measures had economic, health, and psychosocial implications. On the other hand, the pandemic accelerated remote working and the deployment of technology to support this new way of working as businesses needed to continue functioning. Empirical research on the implication of these measures on the mental health, engagement, and motivation of employees abound in other jurisdictions, whereas it is limited in Nigeria. From a selfdetermination perspective, this study examines the mediating roles of organizational factors (OF) and employee's individual situation (ES) on employee motivation during the pandemic. The study employed a survey research design while descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling were used to analyze the data. Remote working intensity (RW) during the pandemic had a significant positive impact on organizational factors. Employee's Individual Situation had a significant positive impact on Employee Motivation (EM). The study concludes that as good as remote working may seem, the enforced confinement led to increased stress levels, more mental health challenges, and lower motivation. The moderation role of basic psychological needs (PN) satisfaction was confirmed. The findings showed that employees who could influence their work schedule were more motivated. Higher levels of support from employers that enabled individuals to achieve desired results amidst the uncertainties created by the pandemic were also associated with better levels of motivation. Employees in organizations that found innovative ways for social connection and had regular check-ins by managers were more engaged and motivated because employers' support was found to be empowering, produced better psychological health, and helped employees feel self-determined. Even though the study shows the association between remote working, basic psychological needs satisfaction, and employee motivation, how motivation level changes after some point or the degree to which it would change in the post-pandemic era remains unclear and should be an area for further study since motivation is not a unitary phenomenon.
2021
he COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed the economy in many countries. The Indonesian government decided to implement large-scale social restrictions to handle COVID-19. This policy encouraged various activities to be carried out at home. Some companies decided to encourage their employees to work from home (WFH). This study aimed to explore HR policies during the COVID-19 pandemic in maintaining employee performance in airport-management companies. This research used online questionnaires to reduce face-to-face interaction and was assisted by the HR departments in the companies. This research confirmed that HR practices and perceived organizational support positively influenced job performance. This study could not show the role of employee well-being as a mediator, which is related to HR practices and POS not having been proven to affect employee well-being. In addition, the results did not show that employee well-being affects job performance. Keywords: Maintaining Employee, Organizat...
NMIMS Management Review
Purpose: As the Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated increased remote working, organizations need to use support mechanisms to facilitate new ways of working. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the organizational support mechanisms impact employee work-related attitudes in the context of remote working. As people are anxious about both lives and livelihood during this crisis, the paper also aims to analyze how anxiety impacts the relationship of employee engagement with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Methodology: For this purpose, responses were collected between March 25 and April 30, 2020 from a heterogeneous sample of employees (N=181) working remotely during the pandemic. Employees’ perspectives on work-related attitudes and organizational support mechanisms throughout lockdown in India were captured. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings: This study reported findings in two areas: how organizational support mechanisms (effec...