Is working from home the new workplace panacea? Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for the future world of work

Abstract

Orientation: 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.

Engaged but exhausted: Work-related wellbeing profiles of South African employees

“…Interventions aimed at enhancing individuals' work-related wellbeing of individuals are imperative given the direct consequences of COVID-19 (International Labor Organization, 2021) and its indirect effects that resulted in changes in the work environment (De Klerk et al, 2021;Koekemoer et al, 2021). Identifying work-related wellbeing profiles enables organizations to tailor their interventions for different groups of employees, enhancing the effectiveness of these interventions.…”

“…While many of these changes were beneficial for employees, remote working also introduced challenges. Employees reported greater autonomy and flexibility, but at the same time, they experienced a lack of equipment and other resources, increased parenting duties, and a lack of effective communication and meaningful connections (De Klerk et al, 2021;Koekemoer et al, 2021). Therefore, the pandemic (and remote working arrangements) comes with a trade-off by increasing employee motivation and engagement and decreasing employee job-related wellbeing such as burnout.…”

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Industrial Organisational Psychologists in South Africa: Imagining new professional roles

“…The focus then is on understanding micro issues and linkages with macro issues stemming from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Cho, 2020). Emerging empirical focus within South Africa has been centred on understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at a wider societal level, including interventions for support (De Klerk, Joubert, & Mosca, 2021). This places importance on understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the targeted interventions from an organisational and institutional unit of analysis (Magezi & Manzanga, 2020).…”

Employee Engagement Outlooks in the Era of COVID-19: Implications for Human Resource Management

“…Working from home could adequately replace traditional work arrangements. However, prolonged working from home could impede employee engagement and employee experience to the point of burnout (De Klerk, Joubert, & Mosca, 2021). According to De Klerk et al (2021), job resources and demands regulate the WFH experience.…”

“…However, prolonged working from home could impede employee engagement and employee experience to the point of burnout (De Klerk, Joubert, & Mosca, 2021). According to De Klerk et al (2021), job resources and demands regulate the WFH experience. On the one hand, higher employee engagement is achieved if job resources (e.g., organizational support) exceed job demands.…”