Achieving Effective Remote Working During the COVID‐19 Pandemic: A Work Design Perspective (original) (raw)
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, telework has been adopted extensively as a way to ensure business continuity. However, its effects on important employee outcomes such as work productivity, job performance, and satisfaction are unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the factors previously identified as important determinants of telework effectiveness are also relevant in the context of the pandemic. Drawing on Baruch and Nicholson's Model of Teleworking, the relationship between individual, home/family, job, and organizational factors and adjustment to telework during COVID-19 was examined. Survey data was collected from 482 employees who worked from home on a full-time basis during the pandemic. Results indicated that individual factors (i.e., self-management tactics) and home/family factors (i.e., the need for adequate telework conditions) are important predictors for employee productivity, performance and satisfaction while teleworking during COVID-19. Furthermore, workload (i.e., job factor) was a significant predictor for work productivity and satisfaction with telework. Surprisingly, organizational support for teleworking was not related to any of these outcomes. Implications for research and practice concerning telework during the pandemic are discussed.
Frontiers in organizational psychology, 2024
Objective: This study evaluated the impact of the number of days per week working from home (WFH) on employee loneliness during and years after the COVID-lockdown, with a focus on role overload as a mediating factor and social support from coworkers as a moderating variable. Methods: Data were collected via self-reports from a sample of , participants during the lockdown in January and , participants years post-lockdown in January. Results: Analysis using a moderated mediation model showed that increased WFH days were associated with heightened loneliness during the lockdown, a link that weakened post-lockdown. Role overload served as a mediator, intensifying loneliness during WFH but less so after the lockdown. While higher social support was generally linked to reduced role overload and loneliness, it paradoxically intensified these issues in individuals with extensive WFH days. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the number of days WFH can exacerbate loneliness and role overload among employees, with the e ect being more pronounced during the lockdown. Employees with substantial social support faced more challenges as WFH duration increased. These results underscore the complex dynamics between WFH, social support, and employee wellbeing.
IMPACTS OF REMOTE WORKING ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC
isara solutions, 2021
The pandemic is sweeping the world, Covid 19 has rendered a large proportion of workforce to work from their office as to stop the chain link of virus. This has resulted into both employers and employees to look for alternative platforms to achieve objectives of the organisations In the event of a pandemic, existing expertise on remote working may be called into doubt. We used a mixed-methods approach to investigate the issues that remote employees are facing right now, as well as how virtual work characteristics and individual differences influence these challenges. Every part of our work and lives has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies, organizations, and institutions encouraged their employees to work remotely from home in reaction to national and municipal containment policies. Employees could work from home (WFH) to avoid commuting, provide schedule flexibility, and achieve a better work-life balance in the early 2000s, when telecommuting technologies began to develop and employees could WFH to avoid commuting, provide schedule flexibility, and achieve a better work-life balance.
International Journal of Trade and Commerce-IIARTC, 2020
Purpose-This study has investigated how professionals are collaborating online working from home (WFH) during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Various aspects of this shift in working culture have been examined like employee satisfaction levels, challenges related to telecommuting and perceived productivity of working remotely during the COVID-19 outbreak situation. Design/methodology/approach-This study has employed an exploratory research design. The study has obtained secondary data from various articles published in journals and conference proceedings, books, news media, website etc. and primary data via an online survey using a set of a semi-structured questionnaire. Convenience sampling technique has been used to choose a sample of professionals working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic (n=100). Both sample selection and survey administration have been done through social media messaging services owing to strict lockdown measures. Findings-All in all, the results ha...
Employee Performance Analysis Along Work from Home During the Covid-19 Pandemic
International Journal of Professional Business Review
Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of work environment and workload on employee performance mediated by work motivation along Work From Home during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Department of Manpower and Transmigration, North Musi Rawas Regency, North Sumatra, South Indonesia Theoretical framework: Recent literature has reported there are three dimensions of implementing or realizing work from home including, the dimensions of transformation space, time, and social roles. Employees who do not have clear boundaries between roles at home and work will create more work-life conflicts (Kinman, 2016) and (Putnik et al., 2018) from the results of research (Sheikh, 2010) stated that doing work and family tasks concurrently makes employees face multiple conflicts and roles, apart from having to divide work space and family life space Design/methodology/approach: The sample of the study was all employees and partners of the Manpower and Transmigration Office of Nort...
Policy Design and Practice
The pandemic sweeping the world, COVID-19, has rendered a large proportion of the workforce unable to commute to work, as to mitigate the spread of the virus. This has resulted in both employers and employees seeking alternative work arrangements, especially in a fast-paced metropolitan like Hong Kong. Due to the pandemic, most if not all workers experienced work from home (WFH). Hence WFH has become a policy priority for most governments. In doing so, the policies must be made keeping in mind the practicality for both employers and employees. However, this current situation provides unique insight into how well working from home works, and may play a vital role in future policies that reshape the current structure of working hours, possibly allowing for more flexibility. Using an exploratory framework and a SWOT analysis, this study investigates the continuing experience of the employer and employees face in Hong Kong. A critical insight and related recommendations have been developed for future policy decisions. It will also critically investigate if this work arrangement will remain as a transitory element responding to the exceptional circumstances, or whether it could be a permanent arrangement.
Working Amidst Covid-19: A Study Of Growth, Relatedness, and Existence among Remote Workers
With or without the pandemic, remote working is the new norm for many. Employees are enjoying the flexibility that remote working has to offer. Being happy then leads to better productivity for workers. Employers need to learn to trust employees more working remotely. They need to be prepared to face the difficulties that come with a "no border' world as the benefits of remote working can be better than the disadvantages. This study explores workplace needs for remote workers. 94 participants responded to the instrument. The instrument is a survey which has 4 sections. Section A has 4 items about the demographic profile. Section B has 10 items on Existence Needs through flexibility. Section C has 10 items on relatedness through work-life balance and section D has 10 items on growth through work performance. Finding reveals interesting finds on the workplace needs of employees who work from home.
TIJAB (The International Journal of Applied Business)
COVID-19 attacks have changed the methods and cultures of work in many organizations, the working from home (WFH) phenomenon as an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in many countries in the world has impacts on employee productivity. This study aims to explore the impacts of working from home on employee productivity with a qualitative approach. The findings explain that working from home has provided advantages and disadvantages both for employee and organization as well as being responsible for the decline in employee productivity. Furthermore, we also find the fact that working from home cannot be generally accepted since many areas of work cannot be carried out from home, although for many employees, working from home has provided a work-life balance. Yet, this is sometimes interrupted by multiple jobs (multitasking) that must be done at home.
SA Journal of Industrial Psychology
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of employees to work from home as governments implemented lockdowns. Research purpose: This study examined the impact of working exclusively from home on employee engagement and experience, and determined beneficial and distracting factors. Motivation for the study: Remote working trends have risen steeply since the onset of COVID-19 and are unlikely to taper off soon. Organisations need to understand the impact of remote work when reconsidering working arrangements. Research approach/design and method: A dual-approach qualitative design was followed. The sample comprised 25 employees (N = 25) who were forced to work exclusively from home during COVID-19. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Main findings: Working from home for protracted periods rendered paradoxical outcomes. Employees could work effectively with improved employee engagement and experience, but there were challenges rendering adverse effects. The experienced benefits of working from home created expectations that this practice would continue in future, along with some office work. Practical/managerial implications: Organisations need to continue, though not exclusively, with work-from-home arrangements. The ideal ratio of remote work to office work was seen as two to three days per week. However, support and cultural practices would have to be put in place. Contribution/value-add: The COVID-19 lockdown provided a unique environment to study remote work. For the first time, employees and organisations were placed in a situation where they could experience working from home in a stark and compulsory form, devoid of idealistic fantasies or romanticism.
Work
BACKGROUND: With the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations embraced Work From Home (WFH). An important component of transitioning to WFH is the effect on workers, particularly related to their productivity and work experience. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to examine how worker-, workspace-, and work-related factors affected productivity and time spent at a workstation on a typical WFH day during the pandemic. METHODS: An online questionnaire was designed and administered to collect the necessary information. Data from 988 respondents were included in the analyses. RESULTS: Overall perception of productivity level among workers did not change relative to their in-office productivity before the pandemic. Female, older, and high-income workers were likely to report increased productivity. Productivity was positively influenced by better mental and physical health statuses, having a teenager, increased communication with coworkers and having a dedicated room for work. Number of...