The New "Covid-19" Home Office Worker: Evolving Computer-Human Interactions and the Perceived Value of Workplace Technology

Abstract

The context for this paper is the ongoing Covid-19 Global Pandemic and the guidance from the majority of nation-state governments for all central office based type workers to completely shift to working from home, advice which business and organisations adopted. Recent European research has established that 85% [1] of knowledge workers up to the Covid-19 Pandemic worked 80% or more of their time in a central office environment. Suddenly these office workers had to relocate their work into their homes without any opportunities for their employers to plan this move. Part of the challenge was access to the right technology. This problem was quickly resolved by the purchase of the relevant technology but not necessarily the new human-computer interaction mode. The focus of the field research was to assess the evolving human-computer of the office-based worker before the Covid-19 Pandemic. The paper has two intended outcomes. First, to provide short term insights to better understand the impact of rapid change of physical and technology-centric workspaces, due to Covid-19 on user behaviours and experience. Second to use the research to deliver better user experience design and collaboration and how technologies such Augmented Reality could enhance that experience.

Searching for New Model of Digital Informatics for Human–Computer Interaction: Testing the Institution-Based Technology Acceptance Model (ITAM)

“…New technological advancements like the fourth industrial revolution should be closely interconnected with institutional arrangements such as strategies that allow a structure to adjust or preserve stabilization after experiencing periods of instability [ 154 ]. For instance, in the case of South Korea, after the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015, structures and processes such as strengthened legislative authority for quarantine and surveillance systems encouraged people to promptly adapt to digital technologies in response to the pandemic [ 155 ]. Thus, these institutional facilitators and the groundwork helped the new technology to be quickly used for public health.…”

“…Thus, these institutional facilitators and the groundwork helped the new technology to be quickly used for public health. These institutional arrangements for disease control that include relative digital data management have enabled South Korea to extend accelerated testing and case recording to a greater portion of the population when faced with COVID-19 [ 155 ]. Contrariwise, the United States, where lengthy lines for coronavirus testing wrapped around the block early in the pandemic, demonstrated a defective monitoring process even several months after the pandemic outbreak.…”

“…Since government employees play such a significant role in the decision to construct new technology deployment [ 161 , 162 ], they are in a key position to introduce and utilize the advantages of new technology. The convergence of physical and digital technologies is one of the key features of the fourth industrial revolution [ 153 ] and it could open new opportunities to transform conventional human–computer interaction, as we have witnessed during the current global COVID-19 pandemic [ 155 ].…”

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Working Conditions, Employment, Career Development and Well-Being of Refugee Researchers

“…However, the convenience sampling was the only method with which data could be collected from a plenitude of countries (the host countries of RRs) swiftly and relatively efficiently. Questionnaire and its validity: The questions selected were a synthesis of questions used on previous research surveys, which were studying the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic to the work, health, income of refugees as well as the adaptation level of employees to the WFH situation [4,32] Questionnaire and its validity: The questions selected were a synthesis of questions used on previous research surveys, which were studying the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic to the work, health, income of refugees as well as the adaptation level of employees to the WFH situation [4,32]. The survey of Cimpoeru et al (2020) aimed to document the impact of new living conditions through the pandemic in Germany and Romania.…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has affected significant aspects of economic and social life, forcing millions of people to working from home (WFH) [3]. Since the start of the pandemic, almost 85% of knowledge workers in Europe made a shift to the WFH practice [4], even though they used to spend more than 80% of their working time in a central office environment [5].…”