Having to Work from Home: Basic Needs, Well-Being, and Motivation

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were asked to start working from home for an extended time. The current study investigated how well employees worked and felt in this novel situation by following n = 199 German employees—56% of them female, 24% with childcare duties—over the course of two working weeks in which they reported once daily on their well-being (PANAS-20, detachment) and motivation (work engagement, flow). Participants reported on organizational and personal resources (emotional exhaustion, emotion regulation, segmentation preference, role clarity, job control, social support). Importantly, they indicated how well their work-related basic needs, i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness, were met when working from home and how these needs had been met in the office. Multilevel models of growth showed that work engagement, flow, affect and detachment were on average positive and improving over the two weeks in study. Higher competence need satisfaction predicted better daily work engagement, flow, and affect. In a network model, we explored associations and dynamics between daily variables. Overall, the results suggest that people adapted well to the novel situation, with their motivation and well-being indicators showing adequate levels and increasing trajectories. Avenues for improving work from home are job control and social support.

COVID-19 and the Impact on the Cranio-Oro-Facial Trauma Care in Italy: An Epidemiological Retrospective Cohort Study

“…Taking into account the increasingly competitive healthcare market, the institutions should focus on achieving high or perfect patient satisfaction ratings to improve the quality of the provided services [ 32 ]. However, to provide the adequate telehealth services, the health professionals should be able to adapt to the changed work environment and should be productive and thrive in general [ 33 , 34 ]. Operative strategies like these could be useful to provide the first assistance for green code patients and optimize the hospital receptive capabilities, until the global vaccine campaign achieves a significant level of prevention that will certainly mitigate some of the current challenges that we are facing [ 35 ].…”

Measuring the experience of remote home workers: A scoping review

“…After removing 26 records, a further two records were retrieved from the reference list. The final list comprised 34 records (Aczel et al, 2021;Ali et al, 2021;Angelici & Profeta, 2020;Bellmann & Hübler, 2020;Bolisani et al, 2020;Chong et al, 2020;Craig et al, 2021;Darouei & Pluut, 2021;Davidescu et al, 2020;de Vries et al, 2019;Decastri et al, 2020;Di Tecco et al, 2021;Eng et al, 2010;Grant et al, 2019;Ipsen et al, 2020;Ipsen et al, 2021;Langvik et al, 2021;Mazzucchelli, 2017;Molino et al, 2020;Moretti et al, 2020;Nakrošienė et al, 2019;Negulescu & Doval, 2021;Prihadi et al, 2021;Schade et al, 2021;van der Lippe & Lippényi, 2020).…”

“…2. Flexibility (FLEX): This dimension contains aspects considered in 19 records (Angelici & Profeta, 2020;Bloom et al, 2015;Craig et al, 2021;Davidescu et al, 2020;de Vries et al, 2019;Decastri et al, 2020;Eng et al, 2010;Grant et al, 2019;Langvik et al, 2021;Mazzucchelli, 2017;Moretti et al, 2020;Nakrošienė et al, 2019;Nansen et al, 2010;Negulescu & Doval, 2021;Raguseo et al, 2014;Schade et al, 2021;Tustin, 2014; Lippe & Lippényi, 2020; Wang & Ronen, 2011). This dimension pertains to the assessment of variables such as the amount of flexibility in the job (e.g., working from home weekly) and perceived freedom to work at one's own pace, i.e., time, space and resource management.…”

“…3. Health and well-being (HEAL): This dimension includes aspects presented in 16 records (Aczel et al, 2021;Angelici & Profeta, 2020;Bloom et al, 2015;Chong et al, 2020;Craig et al, 2021;Darouei & Pluut, 2021;Decastri et al, 2020;Di Tecco et al, 2021;Grant et al, 2019;Koopmans et al, 2014;Langvik et al, 2021;Molino et al, 2020;Moretti et al, 2020;Schade et al, 2021;Tustin, 2014). The variables investigated are related to the WFH modalities perceived effects on people's health and well-being, for instance, fatigue, workload, stress (also induced by technology, Molino et al, 2020), pain, avoidance, and exhaustion induced by stress and withdrawal behavior.…”

“…5. Organizational and job-related aspects (ORG): This dimension contains aspects from 11 records (Ali et al, 2021;Bellmann & Hübler, 2020;Darouei & Pluut, 2021;de Vries et al, 2019;Eng et al, 2010;Grant et al, 2019;Malik et al, 2016;Nakrošienė et al, 2019; MEASURING THE EXPERIENCE OF REMOTE WORKERS FROM HOME 31 Raguseo et al, 2014;Schade et al, 2021;Wang & Ronen, 2011). The ORG dimension is focused on the quality of the relationship between workers and their organization, including variables such as loyalty and trust toward the company e.g., uncertainty regarding the work, but also trust toward managers and colleagues, and support provided by management and colleagues that may compromise the aforementioned relationship.…”