Measuring the experience of remote home workers: A scoping review

Abstract

Introduction: Working from home (WFH) remotely is a modality of working that requires the careful design of systems of rules and tools to enable people to exchange information and perform actions. WFH is expected to expand after the COVID-19 pandemic, and how best to reliably assess and compare the experience of workers with different (sociotechnical) systems of WFH is central to the diffusion of acceptable modalities of remote working. However, the concept of experience and how it can be measured in the domain in WFH is yet to be clearly characterized.Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology for scoping reviews, we systematically map the approaches used by researchers to assess WFH, identify which aspects are usually investigated, and examine how such aspects are usually measured in terms of questions and tools. Literature is collected using Scopus and Web of Science.Results: Thirty-four records out of 323 focusing either on validating a scale, presenting theoretically the experience of workers or testing this empirically are included in the qualitative synthesis. The results highlight a lack of unified terminology and tools, with assessments of workers’ experience mainly characterized by survey approaches and qualitative questions. Conclusion: Clustering together the most investigated aspects in the literature and reviewing how these aspects are assessed, we propose a list of 10 relevant overarching dimensions and attempt to define workers’ experience in the domain of WFH remotely. This definition can be used as a tool by researchers aiming to assess the experience of workers in order to inform the design or redesign of the sociotechnical systems that enable WFH.

Remote Working: A Way to Foster Greater Inclusion and Accessibility?

“…The study is a preliminary feasibility study into the effects of working from home on Italian PA employees' well-being. The experiment consisted of four questionnaires to evaluate the most relevant dimensions of inclusiveness and accessibility in the RW condition [4]. The questionnaires were administered to two groups of participants conducting the usability test in two conditions, namely, home-space and offce-space.…”

“…Preliminary to this study, a literature review was conducted to identify which dimensions of work experience are able to mostly represent quality, effciency and satisfaction in workplaces [4]. According to this systematic review, 10 dimensions emerged as the most relevant to measuring the experience of inclusiveness and accessibility in the RW condition: engagement with work (ENG), fexibility (FLEX), health and well-being (HEAL), layout and technology (LAY), organizational and job-related aspects (ORG), performance (PERF), personal needs and style (PERS), satisfaction (SAT), subjective gain (SUBJ) and work-life balance (WLB).…”

The Moderating Effect of Management Polychronicity and Knowledge Sharing on Career Sustainability in the Work-from-Anywhere New Normal—From a Social Exchange Theory Perspective

“…We endeavored to collect data at two different times in order to reduce all possibilities of common-method variance (CMV) and time-lag criteria [37]. KS and CS were measured at point 1, while WFX and MP were measured at point 2.…”

“…Moreover, the adoption of WFX as part of an organizational structure necessitates the employer providing enough technological support to bridge the distance lapses. Therefore, WFX could be considered as a privilege reserved for a section of the workers, such as managers and suitably long-tenured professionals, based on particular circumstances and established trust between employer and employee [37]. Obviously, for WFX to be productive, it requires a specific positioning as part of a well-structured organizational framework.…”