How to Keep Remote Workers Inspired and Engaged

Development and validation of the Remote Working Benefits & Disadvantages scale

“…Among the most critical aspects are the lack of sociability and identification with one's own organisation and workplace (Toscano and Zappalà 2020a, b), as well as the purely logistical aspects resulting from the physical impossibility of going to the office to access necessary tools or information (Gheno and Pesenti 2021;Bonacini et al 2021). Unfavourable aspects also include perceptions of lower visibility or recognition of one's work (Toscano and Zappalà 2020b) and lower perceptions of career and protection advancement opportunities (Mulki et al 2009;Arntz et al 2020). Finally, areas considered highly problematic include feeling constantly monitored (Leonardi et al 2010;Bondanini et al 2020), receiving negative comments from colleagues or supervisors (Mulki et al 2009), and difficulty concentrating or distracting oneself from work because of the intrusive nature of new technologies (Molino et al 2020;Bondanini et al 2020).…”

“…Unfavourable aspects also include perceptions of lower visibility or recognition of one's work (Toscano and Zappalà 2020b) and lower perceptions of career and protection advancement opportunities (Mulki et al 2009;Arntz et al 2020). Finally, areas considered highly problematic include feeling constantly monitored (Leonardi et al 2010;Bondanini et al 2020), receiving negative comments from colleagues or supervisors (Mulki et al 2009), and difficulty concentrating or distracting oneself from work because of the intrusive nature of new technologies (Molino et al 2020;Bondanini et al 2020). Therefore, the original questionnaire, which would later be subjected to psychometric analysis, consisted of 33 items.…”

“…Similarly, several studies and systematic reviews, such as those of Sousa-Poza and Sousa-Poza (2000) and Faragher et al (2013), confirm that good relationships with colleagues and superiors are positively associated with job satisfaction, which is why we hypothesised a residual correlation between items 5 and 6. Finally, items 8 and 9, both belonging to the disadvantages dimension, were correlated in the residuals since, as Mulki et al (2009) and Barsness et al (2005) state, one of the most critical elements of remote working is the sense of isolation, both social and physical, which is often associated with perceived reduced opportunities and feeling of decreased psychological meaning ascribed to one's work. All the estimates resulted to be statistically significant and are reported in Fig.…”