Navigating Uncharted Waters: Exploring Leaders’ Challenges in the Era of COVID-19 and the Rise of Telework

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic literature review of the challenges faced by managers during COVID-19, with a focus on teleworking. The study consists of an analysis of 53 articles published in the period 2020–2023 in journals indexed in the Elsevier’s Scopus and Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science databases. The inclusion criteria were: (1) peer-reviewed articles; (2) empirical articles; (3) written in English. Five themes were identified: Leadership Styles, Organizational Support and Communication, Telework Productivity, Challenges Related to Telework, and Leaders’ Attitudes Towards Telework. The positive results show that telework can improve work performance with the right equipment, training, and leadership. Telework can also improve sustainability by limiting commuting and providing decent work with greater autonomy and flexibility. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research on this topic.

The Basics of Home Office (Re)institutionalisation from the Perspective of Experiences from the COVID-19 Era

“…It was also established that remote work can improve output capacity with appropriate hardware, training, and management, as well as the level of sustainable development by reducing commuting to work and providing for dignified work involving more independence and flexibility [40]. The studies of working at home adapted the operationalisation of Lefebvre's triad model in order to depict the workstations spatially (physical space, cyberspace, social space) for purposes of the analysis of securing developmental continuity in scope of the home office system, in particular ensuring continuity of education through home-office system [41].…”

Beyond Work: The Role of “Family-Friendly” Practices in the Subjective Well-Being of Teleworkers and On-Site Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…From the familiar sphere perspective, although remote work can be considered a practice aimed at balancing the worklife relationship, teleworkers may easily feel that work intertwines with their family dynamics and vice versa, hindering balance in the aforementioned relationship [68][69][70]. Indeed, a study carried out by Edvardsson and Gardarsdottir [71] demonstrated that leaders' attitudes towards telework, along with other factors such as adequate equipment and training, were significant determinants of positive outcomes regarding the telework experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, due to the insecurity, stress, and general concern provoked by the pandemic, even those who worked on-site were likely to experience the erosion of work-family boundaries.…”