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PurposeAs a result of COVID-19 and associated stay-at-home orders, the number of employees working remotely reached unprecedented levels during early periods of the pandemic. Since that time, some employees have returned to the office;yet, there is a lasting impact on employees' desires for remote work. In response, decision-makers in organizations should be equipped with knowledge regarding what makes remote work beneficial for both employees and the organization and also fair and compliant with the law. This paper aims to take a dual perspective spanning human capital and legal aspects of remote work to offer six practical recommendations to organizations. Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews the human resources (HR) scholarly literature on remote work, using principles from evidence-based management to select valid and reliable findings in which to base practical recommendations for organizations. Associated legal risks are identified through a review of the legal literature on remote work and integrated into the recommendations. FindingsBuilding on a multilevel model of HR practices, the authors offer the following six practical recommendations to organizations: offer hybrid work and both location and schedule flexibility;ensure fair and compliant work schedules;acknowledge manager perceptions;ensure fair approval and evaluation of remote workers;acknowledge individual workers;and align remote work practices with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Originality/valueThe multilevel model of remote work practices discussed in this paper offers an organizing framework for identifying advantages and disadvantages of remote work that future research may build upon. The six recommendations help bridge the research-practice gap by providing organizations with knowledge on how to maximize the benefits of remote work while mitigating potential legal risks.
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Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings: Firms need to be more resilient to survive and prosper in the wake of major crises like the global Covid-19 pandemic. This key organizational resource can be strengthen through work practices that focus on creativity. However, desired outcomes are threatened if levels of role clarity are high, as this can serve to limit employee motivation to find novel solutions. Originality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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PurposeThis study aims to propose and examine a research model where work engagement mediates the impacts of high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) on bank employees' turnover intentions. Specifically, the paper assesses: (a) the effects of empowerment, information sharing, rewards and training on work engagement and turnover intention, (b) work engagement as a mediator of the effects of these HIWPs on turnover intention (c) and functional competence as a moderator of the effects of these HIWPs on work engagement.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was employed to gather data from 343 employees working in commercial banks in Bangladesh. The authors applied partial least squares structural equation modeling to assess the aforesaid linkages.FindingsEmpowerment and information sharing increase bank employees' work engagement, while training and rewards reduce their proclivity to leave. Work engagement partly mediates the relationships of empowerment and information sharing to turnover intention. Functional competence moderates the relationship between three HIWPs (empowerment, information sharing and rewards) on work engagement.Originality/valueThe paper examines the association between HIWPs and turnover intention, which has been subjected to little empirical inquiry among bank employees during a crisis (e.g. Covid-19 pandemic). The paper provides new insights into the underlying mechanism linking HIWPs and turnover intention and highlights the moderating effect of functional competence. Additionally, the study offers new knowledge on the impact of the pandemic on bank employees' HIWPs. Finally, this paper used data gathered from bank employees in Bangladesh, which is an underrepresented Asian country in the extant service research.
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Purpose: This paper explores working mothers' coping strategies concerning paid and unpaid work in Chile and Argentina during the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper aimed to understand the influence of cultural norms on motherhood and neoliberal workplace practices on mothers' sensemaking processes and coping strategies. This study focuses on mothers living in Chile and Argentina where governments established mandatory lockdowns between March and September 2020. Drawing on the notion of neoliberal motherhood, women's demands were analyzed when paid work and mothering duties collide in time and space. Design/methodology/approach: Open-ended interviews were conducted with 17 women in Chile and Argentina. All interviewees had at least 1 child below the age of 6 and were working from home during the lockdown. Findings: Neoliberal workplace demands, and disadvantageous government policies greatly heightened the dual burdens of working mothers. Women were expected to fulfill the discourses of the neoliberal worker and the good mother, while also adopting additional strategies in the wake of the lockdown. The data highlights mothers' strategies to cope with care and work duties by adjusting to new routines involving their partners, relatives and the wider community. Research limitations/implications: The generalizability of the results is limited by the small sample of 17 interviewees, all from middle to middle-upper class. The changing scenario due to Covid-19 makes the collected data not sufficient to grasp the impact of the pandemic, as during the interviews (December 2020 and January 2021) the process was still ongoing. Practical implications: Organizations should assess their role in the management of paid and unpaid work for both genders, as the neoliberal discourse views the worker as masculine, full-time, always available and productive, ignoring women's additional care duties outside of the workplace. Originality/value: The Covid-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to reflect on care work and gender, collective versus individual responses to care and work demands and the idea of organizing. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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Covid-19 has been one of the most disruptive pandemics to date. Among the other aspects of disruption, it also disrupted the way people work in organizations. Many of the organizations surrendered their offices for good. However, there are many ill effects of these unconventional work practices also. This research study aims to explore the perception of the employees towards the adoption of Virtual and flexible work practices. The study uses a conjoint analysis approach on different possible Work Practice Profiles, that specify the nature of work (Virtual, offline, or hybrid), nature of work schedule (flexible, or fixed), nature of ownership (individual, or team), and length of working hours (8.5 hours, or 9.5 hours or 10.5 hours). The study finds that the number of working hours is the most important criterion for the employees followed by mode of work, responsibility, and work schedule. © 2023 IEEE.
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We examine how knowledge workers use narratives to legitimize their hybrid work practices in post-Covid-19 work life. We identify three narratives, the 'individualist', the 'collectivist', and the 'institutionalist', as alternative perspectives of hybrid work that people draw on to legitimize their workplace choices to support performativity and well-being. This study contributes to research on organizational policy implementation by explaining how narrative constructions are used to legitimate different choices within same organizations that go through a transition from forced remote work to hybrid work. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
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The impact of the COVID-19 (corona virus disease) pandemic across the global workforce has been nothing short of dramatic. Many organisations globally have had to adjust to massive shifts associated with the pandemic. Typically, most employees would work in proximity with themselves and their business leaders in an open plan office, most business issues will be quickly solved in a board room with big rotational chairs, a screen and huge table, feedback will be presented to employees over coffee, lunch or in the bosses office, employee engagement activities will be held in the open office or in a fun site or location, lunch hour will be filled with men and women in suits and ties looking for the best spot or spaces to take a breather. Very quickly, all these realities have been replaced with most teams working remotely or leveraging some sort of hybrid working system. Words like zoom and teams (a video conferencing app) meetings, has fast become workplace lingo, terms like social distancing, mental health, virtual teams, virtual meetings, new normal have been introduced to the work environment. This 'new normal' requires a huge dose of adaptation, flexibility and intentionality for organisations to survive, hence this chapter intends to make sense as well as attempt to address the implication of this work changes on the employer, employee, company culture, values and so on. As well as provide insights for possible solutions. © 2023 Kemi Ogunyemi and Adaora I. Onaga. All rights reserved.
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In the last decade, data journalism has established itself as a thriving field. Recently, COVID-19 has boosted the demand for data-driven reporting to make sense of the pandemic, increasing the importance of studying the evolution of this rapidly evolving and technology-bounded practice. However, the number of efforts to map and systematically measure the data journalism industry are few. This paper analyses the findings of The State of the Data Journalism Survey 2021, currently the most extensive study on the characteristics surrounding the workforce producing and contributing to the data journalism industry. The outcome is an understanding of an expanding workforce with a geographically uneven distribution, which is still homogeneous in terms of tools and educational paths. Self-taught, resourceful, and multi-skilled, data journalists often work in isolation but share pressures of limited resources, time limitations, and access to quality data. The pandemic appears to have directly increased those struggles, although data journalists agree that the field's reputation has ultimately benefited from it. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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The construction industry plays a significant role in developing a country's economy. However, the success in this sector largely depends upon the performance of its human resources engaged in different functions. The rapidly developing countries like Malaysia are primarily focusing on improving their infrastructure, ultimately giving rise to a boom in the construction industry, though still, not many studies focused on performance management via a modern working environment. Nonetheless, the present COVID-19 pandemic has driven industries to implement new/modern working methods, but it has yet to be assessed whether the new practices have changed job performance. Dwelling on that, this study explores the modern working possibilities, including flexible work schedules, sabbaticals, and telecommuting, as critical factors affecting employee performance engaged in the construction industry. The data was collected via a survey in Malaysia and then statistically analyzed Structural Equation Modelling. The findings suggest flexible work practices and sabbaticals as critical factors deemed to improve employee performance especially during the recent pandemic of COVID-19. Furthermore, telecommuting is identified as another assertive factor affecting construction performance. Thus, this study will serve as the baseline to further explore the role of these important performance attributes on construction as well as other industries. © 2022, University of Cienfuegos, Carlos Rafael Rodriguez. All rights reserved.
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This study assesses the perceived impact and benefits of Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a tele-mentoring intervention for health and social care providers, patients and the health system in Northern Ireland. Having access to a specialist, a space to share experiences, and being able to disseminate up-to-date best practice were all cited as improving provider knowledge as well as improving quality of care for patients. Healthcare providers reported being more confident in managing patients and that relationships had been improved between different levels of the health system. ECHO was described as improving access to education and training by removing geographic and time barriers. This is one of the first studies to qualitatively analyse impact across a number of different clinical and social care ECHO networks. The results strongly indicate the perceived benefit of ECHO in improving provider, patient and health system outcomes such as increased healthcare provider knowledge and confidence to manage patients at primary levels of the health system. This has implications for future service design, particularly within the context of COVID-19 in which virtual and online training is necessitated by social distancing requirements.
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COVID-19 , Humans , Northern Ireland , Community Health Services , Social Support , Health Personnel/educationABSTRACT
Research on social robots in care has often focused on either the care recipients or the technology itself, neglecting the care workers who, in and through their collaborative and coordinative practices, will need to work with the robots. To better understand these interactions with a social robot (Pepper), we undertook a 3 month long-term study within a care home to gain empirical insights into the way the robot was used. We observed how care workers learned to use the device, applied it to their daily work life, and encountered obstacles. Our findings show that the care workers used the robot regularly (1:07 hours/day) mostly in one-to-one interactions with residents. While the robot had a limited effect on reducing the workload of care workers, it had other positive effects, demonstrating the potential to enhance the quality of care. © 2022 Owner/Author.
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In this paper, we report on new findings about the results of an empirical study which aims to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has been shaping nomadic work practices and also challenging the lifestyles of digital nomads (DN). To do this, we collected textual data from posts in a Reddit community. We argue that, in order to understand how to design technical solutions for the so-called 'new normal' working conditions, one way to approach this is to understand how digital nomads are being impacted in their work practices and routines, and also how they are seeing the future of their technology-mediated work-life space. Finally, we show how evidence collected from DNs about their experiences and difficulties perceived during the pandemic period can inform CSCW researchers worldwide about future design-oriented strands. © 2022 IEEE.
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Many of the well-established practices and procedures those were followed in the execution of Oil & Gas Industry Projects were seeing a shift towards digital transformation in recent years, which got accelerated due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital transformation is the adoption of digital technologies whereby the existing business processes are modified or new ones are created. This process of redefining the conventional procedures, culture and customer experience to meet the changing requirements benefit the overall business function. Redefining the process of business in the digital age is digital transformation. Digital transformation in Oil & Gas Industry is embracing of technology to reshape how oil and gas companies manage and operate their assets. The digitally-enabled and data-centric approach leads to improved productivity, higher efficiency and increased cost savings. One of the Process Transformation example in Oil & Gas sector is to conduct the Factory Inspection and Acceptance Tests remotely utilizing various digital tools available in this digital age instead of the conventional way of physical participation in the testing. Many industries were already exploring the possibilities of non-conventional work practices such as Work from Home (remotely, away from office), conducting virtual meetings with remotely located participants. These practices were still not accepted in all the industries prior to 2020. However the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic worldwide created a need to accept these non-conventional practices of remote or virtual work. Post Covid (2020), these are widely accepted in most of the industries including Oil & Gas sector. The concept of Virtual Remote Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) is explored to overcome the unforeseen situation arose due to worldwide Covid-19 outbreak. Travel restrictions were imposed worldwide to curb the covid-19 spread, which made a halt to the normal work practices followed till then. Virtual Remote FAT is a successful alternative to the conventional way of conducting the FAT and was utilized during Covid-19 outbreak. Virtual remote FAT is successfully completed in some of the recently executed projects and this can be pursued even after the Covid crisis. © Copyright 2021, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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The recent worldwide outbreak Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) had an impact on our daily lifestyle enormously. The enterprises have reconsidered their work practices to cope up with the new scenario and a severe impact has been observed in different sectors including manufacturing, shipping and distribution of products. Different Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructures allowed us to obtain some better solutions throughout the decade and it also became one of the most researched areas due to the convergence with other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud computing, etc. In the pandemic era also, IoT has proved its efficiency in different online platforms like e-medicine, e-learning, online shopping, etc. On the other hand, the global trend is moving towards sustainability and hence sustainable solutions in different sectors are in high demand. Though IoT helps to reduce energy consumption in different applications, still environmental concern regarding IoT components has been raised recently since the modern electronics and IoT devices are often difficult to recycle. In this chapter, sustainability of different IoT infrastructures will be reviewed and their applicability in appropriate domains will be analysed for the post-COVID-19 era. Different challenges will be attempted to be identified for future redress satisfying the customer requirement and a possible future direction will be provided based upon the current research findings. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Due to the confinement imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic situation, companies adopted remote work more than ever. The rapid rise of remote work also affected local life and many employers introduced or extended their telework activities because of the associated advantages. However, despite the evident positive benefits, some employees were pressured to work remotely while ill. This evidence brought new challenges to the presenteeism literature. This article investigates how individual, economic/societal, and organizational/sectorial/supervisory-related variables can moderate the role of a contagious disease, such as the COVID-19, in explaining presenteeism behavior. Moreover, the current research presents a multi-level conceptual model (i.e., organizational, individual, supervisory factors) to describe how a new construct of remote-work presenteeism behavior mediates the relationship between different post pandemic health conditions (e.g., allergies, back pain, depression, anxiety) and future cumulative negative consequences. The authors suggested that the widespread pervasive adoption of remote work because of COVID-19 has important implications for the presenteeism literature and opens avenues for further research.
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Professional experience training is very important for vocational education students, who will train and practice according to job characteristics in field of studies to be skillful and gain job experience in technical level. However, due to the COVID-19 situation, having the professional experience training onsite as usual couldn't be done. So, the redesigned of training process has been made into the online version for students by using virtual practicum system, by assigning online electrical work which is as practical as the actual onsite one to students under their residential conditions, which will analyze the 8 electrical operations in total. The research has 37 participants, which are students at professional certificate level in Electrical Power, Chitralada Vocational School, Chitralada Technology Institute. The participants have been divided into 2 groups;first group, 22 students with professional experience training by using virtual practicum comparing with the second group, 15 students with professional experience training onsite. The process consists of 5 steps;Preparation, Accepting the assignments, Reporting the performances, Following up, and Evaluation. The professional experience training using virtual practicum in the academic year B.E. 2563 has the achievement averagely at 80.82%, which studied and compared the achievement with students who had professional experience training onsite in academic year B.E. 2562;averagely at 78.93%. From the result, it is found that at the statistical significance of 0.05, the average achievement of the virtual practicum isn't different comparing to the actual training, showing that the virtual practicum is as practical as the onsite training and can be used for students to gain experience and skills instead of the onsite training in the future. © 2021 IEEE.
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Sustainability of the enterprise is crucial to support long-term business survival and development. Unpredictable events such as Covid-19 highlights sustainability issues in enterprises. This empirical study aims to investigate sociotechnical sustainability in real world work practices. The focus is on employee involvement and problems in work practices concerning the economic, environmental, social, and technological area. The study draws on findings from the 2019 and 2020 analyses on sustainability development in employees’ work practices. Overall, there seems to be a lack of integration of sustainability in work practices and this does not support the employees in their efforts to co-create a sustainable future for the enterprise. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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By incorporating the conservation of resource theory, this study examines how high-performance work practices (HPWPs) affect the employee's in-role performance (EIRP) and employee's task performance (ETP) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Furthermore, this study investigates how organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and positive psychological capital (PPC) affect the relationship between HPWPs and outcomes of employees such as EIRP and ETP. A quantitative technique based on the survey method was used to gather the primary data of the investigation. Two hundred and eleven bank employees working in different banks of Punjab and Pakistan participated in the survey process. The PROCESS-macro was used to test the relationship among the study constructs. Our results supported all the study hypotheses, however positive psychological capital did not moderate the indirect effect of high performance work practices on employee's task performance via organization based self-esteem. This study is the earliest of its kind that focuses on HPWPs and outcomes of employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country like Pakistan. The findings of this study provide practical implications in the post and continuing pandemic situation for organizations to human resource management to redesign workforce strategies to increase their contribution and responses to realize organizational priorities. Although researchers have explored the topic in different sectors, scant studies have investigated the potential impact, barriers, and enabling mechanisms that function as a catalyst in HPWPs during the pandemic situation.
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Background: The epidemiological situation generated by COVID-19 has cast into sharp relief the delicate balance between public health priorities and the economy, with businesses obliged to toe the line between employee health and continued production. In an effort to detect as many cases as possible, isolate contacts, cut transmission chains, and limit the spread of the virus in the workplace, mass testing strategies have been implemented in both public health and industrial contexts to minimize the risk of disruption in activity. Objective: To evaluate the economic impact of the mass workplace testing strategy as carried out by a large automotive company in Catalonia in terms of health and healthcare resource savings. Methodology: Analysis of health costs and impacts based on the estimation of the mortality and morbidity avoided because of screening, and the resulting savings in healthcare costs. Results: The economic impact of the mass workplace testing strategies (using both PCR and RAT tests) was approximately 10.44 per test performed or 5575.49 per positive detected; 38% of this figure corresponds to savings derived from better use of health resources (hospital beds, ICU beds, and follow-up of infected cases), while the remaining 62% corresponds to improved health rates due to the avoided morbidity and mortality. In scenarios with higher positivity rates and a greater impact of the infection on health and the use of health resources, these results could be up to ten times higher (130.24 per test performed or 69,565.59 per positive detected). Conclusion: In the context of COVID-19, preventive actions carried out by the private sector to safeguard industrial production also have concomitant public benefits in the form of savings in healthcare costs. Thus, governmental bodies need to recognize the value of implementing such strategies in private settings and facilitate them through, for example, subsidies.
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COVID-19 , COVID-19 Testing , Health Care Costs , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , WorkplaceABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has abruptly transformed the outlook of employer health benefits plans for 2020 and 2021. Containing the spread of the virus and facilitating care of those infected have quickly emerged as immediate priorities. Employers have adjusted health benefits coverage to make COVID-19 testing and treatment accessible and remove barriers to care in order to facilitate the containment of the disease. Employers also are introducing strategies focused on testing, surveillance, workplace modifications, and hygiene to keep workforces healthy and workplaces safe. This paper is intended to provide evidence-based perspectives for self-insured employers for managing population health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such considerations include (1) return to work practices focused on mitigating the spread of COVID-19 through safety practices, testing and surveillance; and (2) anticipating the impact of COVID-19 on health benefits and costs (including adaptations in delivery of care, social and behavioral health needs, and managing interrupted care for chronic conditions).