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1.
Nigerian Journal of Economic and Social Studies ; 64(3):347-366, 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20244765

ABSTRACT

This study identified and analysed the job satisfaction of married female employees working from home during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted in Jakarta. This study adopted a quantitative approach, using surveys and sturctural equation modelling (SEM). The results were then obtained using the Lisrel 8.5 program. The population in this study were female employees who were married and working from home in Jakarta. The sampling technique used was a nonprobability sampling method, with a purposive sampling technique. The findings are surprising, as work from home (WFH) had no positive effect on work stress and work-life balance. Work-life balance also had no negative effect on job satisfaction. The implication of this finding is that companies can make new policies that regulate working hours and put in place new mechanisms for working in the office or from home. © 2022, Nigerian Economic Society. All rights reserved.

2.
Beyond the Pandemic?: Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Telecommunications and the Internet ; : 215-227, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20244763

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many organisations' reliance on the Internet, with schools, companies, and government agencies, among other institutions, all shifting their operations online in a relatively short period of time. This sudden shift created opportunities for cybercriminals, as did the burden on the healthcare sector, the rush for unemployment benefits, and the desire for up-to-date information about outbreaks and health precautions. This chapter examines the trends in cybercrime during the COVID-19 pandemic that were spurred by these changes, as well as the mitigation measures implemented by government and private industry stakeholders to help protect critical infrastructure and online operations. It argues that the nature of cybercrime and the most common forms of criminal activity did not change substantially during the pandemic, but rather that criminals' focus on whom to target and how to exploit evolving current events enabled them to wield existing criminal tools to greater effect, and potentially also at greater scale, though reliable statistics on the frequency and size of cybercrimes are scarce. Finally, the chapter considers how these trends in cybercrime forced private organisations and governments to undertake new cybersecurity measures and programs and whether the long-term effects of the pandemic might actually include stronger cybersecurity if these efforts continue past the end of the public health crisis. © 2023 the authors.

3.
2022 IEEE 14th International Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology, Communication and Control, Environment, and Management, HNICEM 2022 ; 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20244265

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to the economy due to the increasing infection that affects the workforce in different sectors. The Philippine government has imposed lockdowns to control the spread of infection. This urged the different sectors to implement flexible work schedules or work from home setup. A work-from-home (WFH) setup burdens both the employee and employer by installing different equipment set-ups such as WiFi-equipped laptops, computers, tablets, or smartphones. However, the internet stability in some of the areas in the Philippines is not yet reliable. In this study, an application is used collect survey information and provide an estimate of the telework internet cost requirement of a given government employee or a given government employee implementing a work-from-home set up in their respective household. This involves survey results from different respondents who are currently on a work-from-home setup and significant factors from the survey have been analyzed using machine learning (ML) algorithms. Among the machine learning algorithms used, the ensemble bagged trees model outperformed the other ML models. This work can be extended by incorporating a wider scope of datasets from different industry doing work from home set-up. In addition, in terms of education, it is also recommended to determine the WFH set up not just with the government employee and employer but to also extend this into the education side. © 2022 IEEE.

4.
Journal of Syntax Literate ; 8(5):3139-3149, 2023.
Article in Indonesian | Academic Search Complete | ID: covidwho-20243512

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to find out the extent of the influence of work from home and work environment on employee productivity at PT. Adi Geotama Konstruksindo. The population in this study were employees who worked in PT. Adi Geotama Konstruksindo, especially in the Human Resources (HR), Finance, Marketing, Engineer, and Operational sections, which amounted to 50 people with a total sample taken of 50 respondents. As for the research methods used, quantitative methods. Which aims to test hypotheses using existing theoretical theories. Meanwhile, for data processing calculations and analyzers using linear regression analysis, partial test (t-test), Simultaneous UJi F-which is calculated with the help of the SPSS software program version 26.0. By referring to the results of the research obtained, it is known that the Work From Home System system does not affect employee productivity, while the work environment affects employee productivity. That way, it can be concluded that the more the work from home system continues, the more employee productivity is, while the more developed the work environment, the employee productivity will continue to increase. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Tujuan dilakukannya penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui sejauh mana pengaruh work from home dan lingkungan kerja terhadap produktivitas karyawan di PT. Adi Geotama Konstruksindo. Populasi dalam penelitian ini merupakan para pegawai yang bekerja di perusahaan PT. Adi Geotama Konstruksindo, terutama pada bagian Human Resource (HR), Finance, Marketing, Engineer, dan Operational, yang berjumlah 50 orang dengan jumlah sampel yang diambil sebanyak 50 orang responden. Adapun metode penelitian yang digunakan, metode kuantitatif. Yang bertjuan untuk menguji hipotesis dengan menggunakan teori teori yang sudah ada. Sementara itu, untuk perhitungan olah data dan penganalisisnya menggunakan analisis regresi linear, Uji parsial (t-test), UJi F-Simultan yang dihitung dengan bantuan program software SPSS versi 26.0. Dengan mengacu pada hasil penelitian yang diperoleh, diketahui bahwa Sistem Sistem Work From Home tidak berpengaruh terhadap produktivitas karyawan, sedangkan lingkungan kerja berpengaruh terhadap produktivitas karyawan. Dengan begitu, bisa disimpulkan bahwa semakin meneruskan sistem work from home maka produktivitas karyawan, sedangkan semakin berkembangnya lingkungan kerja maka produktivitas karyawan akan terus meningkat. (Indonesian) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Syntax Literate is the property of Ridwan Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

5.
Virtual Management and the New Normal: New Perspectives on HRM and Leadership since the COVID-19 Pandemic ; : 291-311, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20243452

ABSTRACT

Security issues have always been central to workplaces. Increased work performed at home environments caused by COVID-19 pandemic has changed the security landscape of work radically. Security arrangements are no more at the domain of the employer, yet the risks remain, and responsibilities. In this chapter we discuss this new boom of distance work from the viewpoints of data privacy and security, physical safety and mental well-being. The issues are intertwined, and changes, risks and solutions in one of these cause implications for the other areas too. In data privacy and security, the home office environment causes several risks, and the mixed use of devices and facilities both in work and leisure use causes difficulties. Physical safety is compromised in several ways at home environment, which is partly confounding, as the very core of work at home and social distancing is the search for physical security from COVID viruses. Mental well-being problems are a key product of this social distancing, and they do not typically emerge immediately, but first after a long period. With the COVID-19 pandemic over two years, we first start to see the magnitude of the mental well-being problems it has caused. The COVID-19 pandemic is a very short period in history. For individuals living now, it can deeply affect life, especially in critical periods of life. On the positive side, the very special pressure COVID-19 has caused on working life has surely improved and speeded up academic and practical work in distance work development. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

6.
International Journal of Management and Sustainability ; 12(2):147-158, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20242338

ABSTRACT

The recent COVID-19 pandemic, which led to lockdowns and new working norms, has influenced business and accounting transactions in significant ways. This phenomenon and its longer-term impacts are still under-researched and remain unexplored in emerging countries, particularly Malaysia. Therefore, the current study intended to determine the actions taken by Malaysian organizations, specifically in their accounting and finance functions, in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Online survey questionnaires were distributed to collect data. The questionnaires comprised several sections, including demographic information of the respondents and factors affecting users' intentions to use technology for accounting and finance functions in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. This research adopted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model as a theoretical basis from which to evaluate the research objectives. The findings showed that only performance expectancy is related to user intention, while other factors, such as effort, attitude, social influence, self-efficacy, and anxiety, display the opposite effect. This empirical study suggests that accounting and finance functions in Malaysia still lag behind in terms of the technology used by employees. In addition, organizations, particularly government departments, are not ready to adopt a fully integrated scientific accounting and finance system. © 2023 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved.

7.
Virtual Management and the New Normal: New Perspectives on HRM and Leadership since the COVID-19 Pandemic ; : 99-118, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20241994

ABSTRACT

The conditions for work from home (WFH) changed radically during the pandemic. WFH during this period comprised social, spatial, and identity-based issues that work at once on both the individual subjective-, and the organizational levels. The aim of this study is to investigate some of the consequences of WFH aspects of thickness and thinness in the work environment when work shifts from the workplace to home. The research questions are ‘How do managers in public and private organizations describe how aspects of thickness, in terms of physical proximity and social relations changed when their staff worked from home during the pandemic;and how can organizational thickness and thinness be further developed to understand the detachment of workers from their working places? The study shows that the organizations studied have been innovative by adjusting and developing strategies for coping with long periods of absence from offices, and that thick places can be created with the help of technology. Finally, the study shows that the pandemic may have future consequences in terms of how work is organized and how technology can be used to complement or substitute for work at working offices but also how large office spaces are needed and where these offices should be located. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

8.
Studies in Business and Economics ; 18(1):261-274, 2023.
Article in English | Web of Science | ID: covidwho-20241430

ABSTRACT

Job quality is carefully studied in the research literature and there are multiple models for analyzing relevant indicators. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted employees' work and lives, leading to changes in work patterns. Much of the discussions fell under the label of the possibility of working from different places and the implications of information technology on the perceived quality of a workplace. The present study examines the relationship between the perceived quality in the context of distance working. To address the current situation the study emphasizes how the theory, research, and practice have evolved in regard to perceived work quality and its implication for employees. The notion of perceived organization quality was broadened, and the implication of working from home was analyzed from the employees' point of view. How the possibility of working from home affects the perceived quality of an organization and how this will shape the organization's functions are subjects of this article. The findings contribute to the understanding of employees' behavior with choosing a workplace and the key factors that shape the image of a quality organization.

9.
HemaSphere ; 7(Supplement 1):25, 2023.
Article in English | EMBASE | ID: covidwho-20239282

ABSTRACT

Background: According to national prevalence data, SCD has an estimated economic burden of $2.98 billion per year in the United States and caring for a child with sickle cell disease (SCD) carries its own financial burden, resulting in higher healthcare costs and unintended days lost from employment. Social experiences are known to impact health outcomes in the general pediatric population. These experiences can be examined through the construct of social determinants of health (SDOH), the "condition in which people are born, grow, work, live and age" that impact their health. Since the WHO has designated COVID-19 a pandemic in January 2020, many families in the US have suffered financially, and during the shutdowns, there was a record number of jobs lost. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial and employment status of SCD Families Methods: This study was part of the larger CNH Sickle Cell Disease Social Determinants of Health study that was IRB approved. Caregivers of children with SCD completed a 30-question survey reporting their experiences with SDOH that included Demographics, USDA Food Security Scale, the We Care housing screening tool, and the validated COVID-19 Employment Status/COVID-19 related household finances survey in RedCap during clinic visits and hospitalizations Results: 99 caregivers of SCD patients responded to our survey (82.5% Female, 17.5% Male) (N=97). 93.9% identified as African-American, 3% identified as Hispanic or Latinx, 1% identified as "other". Of respondents, 66% were insured through on Medicaid and 33% had private insurance. Twenty-six percent endorsed food insecurity and 2724% relied on low-cost food. Thirty-one percent lived in an apartment, 67.768% lived in a home, 1% lived in shelter or transitional housing. Sixteen percent lived in subsidized or public housing. Thirty-seven (36.8%) percent reported at least once they were being unable to pay the mortgage or rent on time at least once, 9% (8.5%) reported living with other people because of financial difficulties, 55.2% reported their home not being heated, 7.2% reported being evicted from their home and 3.1% lived in an emergency shelter or transitional housing. 6.1% had an educational level of high school graduation or less, 42.2% were college graduates or completed additional post-graduate education (N=98). Two weeks prior to the pandemic, 61.5% worked full time, 13.5% worked part time, 6.3% were unemployed with only 2.1% working from home of the 96 caregivers who responded to this question. 15.5% (N=12 of 77) reported losing their job or were furloughed during the pandemic;34.4% (N=33 of 96) reporting at least one household member losing a job or a significant amount of income. Twenty-five percent (N=21 of 83) reported it was difficult to get work/school done because of the home environment. 36.4 % (N=35 of 96) reported household income was significantly less since February 2020. 53% (N=52 of 97) worried their household income has been or will be negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, 48.9% (N=47 of 96) worried the value of their assets (housing, savings, other financial assets) has been or will be negatively impacted by COVID-19 and its effects. Since February 2020, 9.8% (N= 9 of 97) received unemployment insurance, 30.9% (N=29 of 94) received SNAP or food stamps, 16.5% (N= 15 of 91) received from the food pantry, 6.6% (N=6 of 90) applied for temp ass.

10.
Beyond the Pandemic?: Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Telecommunications and the Internet ; : 71-102, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20239267

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 has accelerated the shift to remote work. Enabling knowledge workers to do their jobs from home or elsewhere brings benefits by increasing labour participation, avoiding unproductive commuting time (thus reducing the carbon footprint), and reducing the gender gap by enabling a partner with domestic care responsibilities to work. Not all jobs are suitable for remote work, but far more remote work is feasible than has been typical to date. The post-pandemic new normal is sure to differ both from the pre-pandemic normal and from current arrangements. Hybrid arrangements where part of the week is spent at the office, and a part at home, might well become the norm. Employers, workers, trade unions, and governments will need to adapt to the new normal. © 2023 the authors.

11.
Jurnal Pengurusan ; 67, 2023.
Article in Malay | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20236488

ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 pandemic has opened up the landscape for the advantages of work from home (WFH) and adapting oneself in performing tasks. Leadership style and work autonomy also have the potential to assist employees to adapt the flexible work environment. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine the effect of WFH, work autonomy and humble leadership on adaptive performance as well as its moderating effect. Self-determination theory is referred to as an underlying theory to identify the extent to which work autonomy and humble leadership may assist employees to be more motivated in performing work from home. The Partial Least Square (PLS) technique was used to test the hypothesized relationships among variables using the 200 responded data. The results of this study indicated that the WFH, job autonomy and humble leadership influenced adaptive performance and employees with high job autonomy and perceived high humble leadership strengthen the relationship between WFH and adaptive performance. The study sheds new light on the theoretical contribution that the extensive of work autonomy and the influence of a humble leadership style has improved adaptive performance even when working from home. Whereas in practice, organizations need to equip supervisors with a humble leadership style and expand work autonomy to strengthen employee performance regardless of where they work. © 2023 Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.

12.
Virtual Management and the New Normal: New Perspectives on HRM and Leadership since the COVID-19 Pandemic ; : 223-242, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20236427

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 has contributed to a digitalization of communication, and in many cases a distribution of the workforce in organizations. In turn, this has affected knowledge management practices during the pandemic. In particular, this paper scrutinizes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on onboarding practices in a large public organization. The research aimed to investigate employees' perceptions of the onboarding process during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they expect "the new normal” workday to unfold. A total of nine employees were interviewed in a large public organization. We find that COVID-19 caused a certain degree of detachment from the workplace among the new employees, raised issues regarding communication, knowledge sharing and personal development, but also the uptake of an extensive and lasting use of digital administrative systems. The newcomers emphasize the importance of being physically present at work. The unanimous prediction of the post-COVID-19 work future was more flexibility regarding working at the office versus working from home, and a balance for newcomers between presence and e-learning when being onboarded. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

13.
International Journal of Manpower ; 44(4):653-670, 2023.
Article in English | Academic Search Complete | ID: covidwho-20234201

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study, using a comprehensive job demand–resources (JD-R) model, aims to explore the pressures of workload, work–life interface and subsequent impacts on employee stress and job satisfaction, with implications for employee job performance, in the context of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional sample of employees at seven universities (n = 4,497) and structural equation path analysis regression models are used for the analyses. Findings: The results show that a partial mediation JD-R model was supported, where job demands (such as workload and actual hours worked) and job resources (including expectations, support and job security) have relationships with work interference with personal life and personal life interference with work. These have subsequent negative path relationships with stress. Further, stress is negatively related to job satisfaction, and job satisfaction is positively related to employee job performance. Practical implications: Potential policy implications include mitigation approaches to addressing some of the negative impacts on workers and to enhance the positive outcomes. Timely adjustments to job demands and resources can aid in sustaining balance for workers in an uncertain and fluid environmental context. Originality/value: This study makes a contribution to knowledge by capturing sentiments on working arrangements, perceived changes and associated outcomes during a key period within the COVID-19 pandemic while being one of the rare studies to focus on a comprehensive JD-R model and a unique context of highly educated workers' transition to working from home. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Manpower is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

14.
Springer Series in Design and Innovation ; 31:183-199, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20233834

ABSTRACT

This research seeks to respond to a current problem, which has to do with the impact of remote work, from home, on the mental health of "knowledge workers” in particular. One of the greatest struggles people report having is being able to disconnect from work, a state known in the field of psychology as Psychological Detachment. In this context, the main objective of this work was to create a product capable of helping people in the process of disconnecting from work at home. To this end, we established an interdisciplinary research where the contribution of psychology stood out. After conducting a literature review, which culminated in the definition of a theoretical framework, we carried out user research, starting with surveys to find out about users who are being affected and concluding this stage with an Ideation workshop where users were encouraged to design solutions to help them disconnect from work. This collaborative and iterative process resulted in a number of ideas emerging alongside the theoretical framework, culminating in the proposal of three product concepts specifically aimed at helping people disconnect. These were subsequently evaluated by users and, according to their perceptions, gathered using User Experience Questionnaire. One of the concepts was chosen for refinement. Due to constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic it was not possible to produce a prototype of this concept for evaluation with users, which limits this study. Obtained results and their implications are discussed. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

15.
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings ; 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-20232689

ABSTRACT

Since 2020, worldwide COVID-19-related lockdowns have led to a rapid increase of remote collaboration, particularly in the domain of knowledge work. This has undoubtedly brought challenges (e.g., work-life boundary management, social isolation), but also opportunities. Practices that have proven successful (e.g., through increased task performance, efficiency or satisfaction) are worth retaining in future. In this qualitative empirical study, we analyzed four teams' (14 participants in total) mandatory remote collaboration over a period of several days to several months during a nationally imposed lockdown. We report results derived from questionnaires, logbooks, group interviews, and meeting recordings. We identify possible factors influencing quality of task outcome as well as subjective aspects like satisfaction, motivation, and team atmosphere. As a basis for our conclusions, we provide a scheme for categorizing effects of remote collaboration based on an exhaustive literature review on pandemic-induced mandatory remote work and collaboration. © 2023 Owner/Author.

16.
Middle East Development Journal ; 2023.
Article in English | Web of Science | ID: covidwho-20232035

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the world economy. The need for social distancing, lockdowns, or complete curfews has meant that this impact varied significantly across segments of society. Those unable to work remotely, or who work in settings necessitating close contact with others faced a trade-off between their lives and livelihoods. This trade-off was especially pronounced early on during the pandemic when vaccines had not yet been developed, hospitals were overwhelmed and governments were resorting to strict social distancing measures to mitigate the impact on their already strained healthcare systems. In this study, I examine the extent to which jobs can be successfully performed remotely in five MENA countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia. I develop a teleworkability index using micro data on occupational characteristics. I find that relatively few jobs in MENA countries are compatible with teleworking and this share varies considerably by industry, gender, age and the formality of employment. I further investigate the ability to work from home in practice by considering the digital divide (a lack of reliable access to vital tools for teleworking, such as a personal computer and reliable internet access) as well as actual work from home behavior during the pandemic using real time surveys. I find that even for those who have high telework potential only few have access to computer and internet. Surveys conducted during the pandemic suggest that our measure of teleworkability was quite close to actual work from home behavior in each country.

17.
Ind Psychiatry J ; 32(1): 24-30, 2023.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-20244323

ABSTRACT

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has radically transformed workplaces, bearing an adverse impact on the mental health of employees. Aim: The current study attempts to gain an understanding of the mental health of employees while working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Setting and Design: The research followed a mixed-methods design and was conducted across two phases, with participants divided into two subgroups - the WFH subgroup (currently engaging in WFH) and the not working from home (NWFH) subgroup (unable to engage in vocational tasks due to the pandemic). Materials and Methods: The first phase employed quantitative standardized measures of workplace well-being, work and social adjustment, and quality of mental health across 187 participants. The second phase involved in-depth interviews of 31 participants selected from the previous phase, to understand the factors impacting mental health. Results: Strong correlations were recorded between the mental health of an individual and work-related constructs such as workplace well-being and work and social adjustment. The study revealed that participants rated themselves as being significantly more stressed and less productive during the pandemic. Thematic analysis identified the stressors (factors that negatively impact mental health) and enhancers (factors that enhance mental health). Fourteen stressors and 12 enhancers were identified for the WFH group, while five stressors and three enhancers were identified for the NWFH group. Conclusions: The results of the study indicate a significant relationship between the mental health of employees and work-related experiences through the pandemic. Further research on the stressors and enhancers identified through the study can pave the way for effective interventions to promote employee mental health.

18.
J Fam Issues ; 44(6): 1423-1465, 2023 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-20243661

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic generated economic contraction across the world. In India, the stringent lockdown led to extreme distress. The unprecedented situation adversely affected the women's efforts to balance professional life with family life because of a disproportionate increase in their domestic work burden and a shift in their workstation to home. Since every job cannot be performed remotely, women employed in healthcare services, banks and media witnessed additional risks of commuting and physical interaction at the workplace. Based on personal interviews of women in the Delhi-NCR region, the study aims to explore the commonalities and variances in the challenges experienced by the women engaged in diverse occupations. Using the qualitative methodology of flexible coding, the study finds that a relatively larger section of women travelling to their office during the pandemic, rather than those working from home, had an effective familial support system that helped them navigate this tough time.

19.
Public Health Rep ; 138(4): 691-704, 2023.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-20242106

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Interpreting during the COVID-19 pandemic caused stress and adverse mental health among sign language interpreters. The objective of this study was to summarize the pandemic-related work experiences of sign language interpreters and interpreting administrators upon transitioning from on-site to remote work. METHODS: From March through August 2021, we conducted focus groups with 22 sign language interpreters in 5 settings, 1 focus group for each setting: staff, educational, community/freelance, video remote interpreting, and video relay services. We also conducted 5 individual interviews with interpreting administrators or individuals in positions of administrative leadership in each represented setting. The 22 interpreters had a mean (SD) age of 43.4 (9.8) years, 18 were female, 17 were White, all identified as hearing, and all worked a mean (SD) of 30.6 (11.6) hours per week in remote interpreting. We asked participants about the positive and negative consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote at-home interpreting. We established a thematic framework by way of qualitative description for data analysis. RESULTS: We found considerable overlap across positive and negative consequences identified by interpreters and interpreting administrators. Positive consequences of transitioning from on-site to remote-at-home interpreting were realized across 5 overarching topic areas: organizational support, new opportunities, well-being, connections/relationships, and scheduling. Negative consequences emerged across 4 overarching topic areas: technology, financial aspects, availability of the interpreter workforce, and concerns about the occupational health of interpreters. CONCLUSIONS: The positive and negative consequences shared by interpreters and interpreting administrators provide foundational knowledge upon which to create recommendations for the anticipated sustainment of some remote interpreting practice in a manner that protects and promotes occupational health.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Communication Barriers , Humans , Female , Adult , Male , Pandemics , Sign Language , COVID-19/epidemiology , Allied Health Personnel
20.
UCL Open Environ ; 3: e017, 2021.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-20241093

ABSTRACT

In an effort to arrest the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, a nationwide lockdown was declared in India in March 2020. To assess how personal built environments affected the citizens in the first few weeks, an explorative online survey was conducted, eliciting responses about work habits before the lockdown, psychological wellbeing, time spent in various activities, characteristics of those who worked from home, and food and sleep patterns. We received 121 (76 male and 45 female) responses with an average age of 35.5 years [max: 70 years, min: 18 years, standard deviation (SD): 12.9 years]. The major difference caused by the lockdown was a reduction in the time taken and distance travelled of the commute to workplaces, which was an average of 30 minutes and 9.5 km, respectively. In terms of diet, subjects who were vegetarian did not experience any difference, unlike those who were non-vegetarians (p < 0.05). The results show an association of the dependent variable of 'feeling in general' with predictor variables of 'energy, pep, vitality' and 'feel healthy to work' during the pandemic, whereas the predictor variables of 'energy, pep, vitality', 'happy and satisfied personal life', 'feel healthy to work' show an association with the dependent variable of 'feeling in general' before the lockdown with a significance of p < 0.02 and R2 = 0.51 and R2 = 0.60, respectively. Among those who worked from home in constrained environments, people found spaces and seemed to adapt reasonably well to the built environment with employees showing a preference for working from bedrooms and students for working from 'sit-out' (outside) spaces (p < 0.05). There was no change in the quality or quantity of sleep during the lockdown. This study in the early weeks of the lockdown documents the way in which individuals lived through it in terms of the built environment at home.

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