Home office effects on the motivation of ICT companies' employees

Abstract

Restricted measures for social isolation taken as precautions in the fight against pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus, have changed dramatically the normal business and professional life. Companies in all sectors have to be adaptive and flexible in order to survive in this complex and hardly unpredictable business environment. At first glance ICT sector is not so severely and visibly affected by the COVID-19 economic crisis. Due to numerous reasons companies from the sector have so far shown an enviable level of flexibility and adaptability to the rapid changes in business environment conditions. As a response to the anti-epidemiological requirements, most often used tool from ICT companies is to transform working processes from office to home, following the line of social isolation. In this regard the major objective of the current article is to reveal the specifics of home office work in ICT companies and its impact on the employees' motivation in terms of their perceptions and level of commitment to the achievement of companies` goals. For this purpose we used questionnaire survey among employees working in different job positions in ICT companies in Bulgaria (n=158). Our findings reveal that majority of employees (almost 80% of responders) have positive attitude to the home office as a working measure in social isolation conditions. On the other hand, home office does not significantly impact on the level of employees` motivation and their engagement to the achievement of the company's goals. Based on analysis of collected data, we propose divers measures for improving the employees satisfaction and motivation in specific context of home office work during stress crisis situation, such the pandemic is.

The moderating role of remote work in the relationship between organizational culture and OCB: case studies from the financial sector

“…The effects of working from home on motivation and commitment to corporate goals were studied by Anguelov and Angelove (2021) among employees of ICT enterprises. Their results show that the majority of employees (nearly 80% of respondents) have a positive attitude toward home office and working from home has no significant effect on the level of motivation and commitment to achieving organizational goals.…”

Decent, Inclusive, and Green? Mission Impossible?

“…By enabling employees to work from home or remote locations, companies can lower transportationrelated emissions, decrease office space requirements, and contribute to a more sustainable work environment. Yet, it was not a result of any particular policy of the involved companies, as it was also demonstrated in other studies (Anguelov and Angelova 2021). If this practice were maintained, the negative impacts on the environment could be reduced because of reduced commuting.…”

Experiences with Remote Working among Civil Servants in the Czech Republic and their Attitude toward its Use in the Future

“…Similar results have been found in surveys in other countries and in other sectors (e.i. Anguelov & Angelova, 2021). The ranking of the benefits of remote working in relation to the position of managers and subordinates yielded different perceptions, especially for labour productivity, where 32 % of subordinates but only 23 % of managers valued higher productivity when remote working, while 32 % of managers but only 24 % of subordinates valued the prevention of conflict among colleagues.…”