Intelligent Telework Internet Cost Requirement Modeling Using Optimizable Machine Learning Algorithms

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.

Fuzzy-based Telework Capability Evaluation Using AppSheet-based Mobile Application

By the beginning of 2020, the illness had been named as COVID-19, which had spread due to its extreme severity affecting multiple industries and sectors throughout the world. To protect the public's health and safety, the Philippine government has established a number of quarantine regulations and travel restrictions in reaction to the current COVID-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, the ILO predicted that the pandemic would initially disrupt the economy and labor markets, affecting 11 million employees, or around 25% of the workforce in the Philippines. Therefore, the government continues to urge employers of local companies and enterprises to use alternative work plans, such as a WFH - work-from-home operation in accordance with the established policies. In line with the concept of telework, several studies have already been carried out, though some were declared inconclusive and require additional study. Hence, in this research, a mobile application was created to evaluate the employee's telework capability assessment using a Fuzzy-based model which utilizes Google AppSheet, Apps Script, and Sheets. The developed mobile application is able to provide capacity evaluation utilizing the four key input variables, which are also reasonably characterized for potential telecommuting cost evaluation. © 2022 IEEE.

Dual Role of Leadership in ‘Janus-Faced' Telework from Home

The ‘forced' telework from home during the pandemic changed the practices, routines, and especially the working contexts of many employees in a leadership position as leaders themselves became teleworkers in addition to those they were expected to lead. This chapter looks at the challenges and resources of working from home (WFH)-and their ambivalences-among teleworkers and teleworking leaders during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey data was collected immediately after the lockdown. From this data, two subsets were filtered. First, the responses of teleworkers (N = 228) and, second, of teleworking leaders (N = 195) were identified and analysed in regard to the ‘the most challenging' and ‘the most rewarding' issues when working from home. The study shows that telework from home is ‘Janus-faced': telework is simultaneously challenging and rewarding in several respects. In addition, teleworking leaders have a dual role, as they must both adapt to working at home as teleworkers themselves and to being leaders of homeworkers. The findings can be used for designing, organizing, performing, and leading hybrid work in the future. In this evolving ʼnew normal, ' leaders need to adapt to their dual role, learn new leadership competencies, and encourage their employees to lead themselves. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

An organizational analysis of how managers must understand the mental health impact of teleworking during COVID-19 on employees

PurposeThe unimagined workplace disturbance caused by the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has made many organizations virtual or telework driven workplaces, often without the infrastructure and systems in place to support employees facing these sudden workplace changes (Burrell, 2020). Many stressors accompanied this transition, to include lack of childcare, home-school responsibilities and layoffs and business closings. These stressors have perpetuated concerns for the job and financial security for all workers (Fox, 2020), leading some employees to struggle with the work-life balance out of concern for being laid off due to perceived low productivity (Fox, 2020). This study aims to explore those manifestations.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research case study explores the impact COVID-19 induced telework has on their job satisfaction, mental well-being and aspects of organizational commitment to fill a gap in the literature concerning emerging workplace dynamics due to COVID-19 for small real estate businesses in the USA.FindingsThe results of this qualitative research case study provide knowledge and information about the need for small businesses to be resourceful and resilient in the way that they support and engage remote workers. This qualitative research case study explores the impact COVID-19-induced telework has on their job satisfaction, mental well-being and aspects of organizational commitment for small real estate businesses. The analysis of current work-life structures through a qualitative lens provides trends among workers to gain a greater perspective of the current accelerators and barriers to worker success in a COVID-19 teleworking environment.Originality/valueThis qualitative research case study explores the impact COVID-19 induced telework has on their job satisfaction, mental well-being and aspects of organizational commitment to fill a gap in the literature concerning emerging workplace dynamics due to COVID-19 for small real estate businesses. The value of this research is that majority of the participants were African-Americans, which represents a participant group that is highly under researched.

Three Organizational Perspectives on the Adoption of Telework

Over the past 20-30 years, many public sector organizations have adopted organizational forms that include multi-located organizational units, in which leaders and part of their subordinates work in different geographical locations. The COVID-19 lockdowns have caused a similar trend with an increased use of home offices. Consequently, many leaders today have people working from different geographical locations, and virtual leadership (distant leadership) has become the possible normal practice. The situation before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic can be understood from multiple theoretical perspectives within organizational research: the technological, the performance gap and the institutional perspective. The purpose of this chapter is to present, illustrate and discuss these three organizational perspectives on the adoption of-and changes related to-telework and virtual leadership. The illustrations of these perspectives are conducted to the old normal and the lockdown period, while the discussion is in relation to possible "new normal practices.” The illustrations are drawn from Norwegian public organizations, and the perspectives build on classic and new contributions within organizational research. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Sustainable Leadership and Work-Nonwork Boundary Management and in a Changing World of Work

Profound changes have taken place in working life where the rapid development of information- and communication technologies (ICTs) has changed the way work is organized. Today, an increasing number of employees perform their work regardless of space and time. This flexible way of working has been associated with blurred boundaries between the work and nonwork domains, positive and negative effects on work-life balance, increased work autonomy and productivity, but also with longer working hours, work intensification, and increased stress. This chapter is based on in-depth interviews conducted between 2015 and 2016 with 20 public and private sector managers in Sweden. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to investigate perceptions on leadership in telework;and experiences of managers' own and their employees' management of the boundaries between work and nonwork. Authentic leadership enabled open communication based on trust with employees, and subsequent clear agreements regarding work assignments, as well as supported managers' own and their employees' preferences and needs for work-nonwork boundaries. Although this study was performed before the COVID-19 pandemic, its results are believed to contribute to the ongoing debate on working life in the "New Normal” during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Telework in Romania. Current State and Sustainable Socio-Economic Effects of Its Development

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the current stage of implementation of telework in Romania and to determine potential positive and sustainable effects generated by its development on a large scale. The research methodology used is based on descriptive analysis, comparative analysis, but also on econometric analysis. The general results obtained show that Romania registers a very low level of telework employees, this being influenced, not only by the low share of those with tertiary education and high skilled professionals, but also by the fact that most Romanian employees do not want to practice this type of work. The results also showed that telework can generate significant economic and social benefits. The potential solutions we have identified for the sustainable development of the telework phenomenon in Romania include investments in tertiary education and awareness campaigns among both employees and companies, regarding the positive effects that can be obtained through telework and business development.

Communication media as mediators of telework frequency and knowledge sharing in Japan under COVID-19

This paper examines how telework frequency has affected the usage of major communication media, and subsequently knowledge sharing, among a large sample of full-time Japanese employees with no prior telework experience during the country's fourth COVID-19 state of emergency. Results suggest that mandatory telework resulted in lower use of face-to-face meetings and phone calls;in higher use of instant messaging and virtual meetings, and that it had no effect on e-mail use. Moreover, phone call, instant messaging, and virtual meeting frequencies were found to mediate the relationship between telework frequency and knowledge sharing. These findings highlight the importance of both existing and newer communication media in offsetting the loss of face-to-face meeting opportunities. Government-mandated telework may have accelerated the adoption of new communication tools such as instant messaging and virtual meeting, which had not yet gained full acceptance before the pandemic.

Media synchronicity implications for Indian white-collar employees' work-from-home wellbeing and preference, mediated by psychological needs satisfaction

PurposeWork-from-home (WFH) gained ground with COVID and will now continue to be a part of India's future of work. Under WFH information and communication technologies (ICT) media become the primary/sole mode of communication for employees, which holds several implications for employers and employees. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of ICT media characteristics and usage frequency on multiple WFH outcomes. Specifically studied was ICT media's ability to support synchronicity or coordinated behaviours of individuals working together.Design/methodology/approachThis work examined the effect of ICT media's synchronicity-supporting ability and usage frequency on WFH employees' need for competence and relatedness satisfaction, thereby wellbeing and preference to WFH. Data from 301 white-collar employees of varied manufacturing and services organizations of India was analysed via partial least squares structural equation modelling.FindingsAchieving more synchronicity by frequently using ICT media that can better facilitate coordinated behaviours did not directly influence WFH employees' feeling of belongingness (need for relatedness) or wellbeing. It did, however, positively affect their feeling of effectance (need for competence) and thereby wellbeing. However, unexpectedly, it negatively influenced preference to WFH more often.Originality/valueThis study has uniquely combined media synchronicity and self-determination theories to investigate the implications of a work practice on employee wellbeing and preferences. Also, an extensible media evaluation parameter was created that encompasses the characteristics and usage frequency of a set of ICT media.

Adapting during the Covid-19 pandemic: How the Information Services Desk was (and still is!) managed remotely

The Covid-19 pandemic affected the services at Dahlgren Memorial Library (DML), especially the Information Services Desk, where our student assistants perform circulation desk duties in person. Once the pandemic began in March 2020, the Information Services Desk was closed until the summer of 2021. The majority of the library staff were allowed to work remotely full-time until starting a hybrid schedule in the Fall of 2021. However, the student assistants were allowed to return to work at the Information Services Desk during the summer of 2021. This article explores how the Information Services Desk student assistants were managed by their supervisor remotely and the challenges that were faced. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Access Services is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd 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.)

Meeting (the) Pandemic: Videoconferencing Fatigue and Evolving Tensions of Sociality in Enterprise Video Meetings During COVID-19.

When COVID-19 led to mandatory working from home, significant blind spots in supporting the sociality of working life-in the moment and over time-were revealed in enterprise video meetings, and these were a key factor in reports about videoconferencing fatigue. Drawing on a large study (N = 849) of one global technology company's employees' experiences of all-remote video meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic, we use a dialectic method to explore the tensions expressed by employees around effectiveness and sociality, as well as their strategies to cope with these tensions. We argue that videoconferencing fatigue arose partly due to work practices and technologies designed with assumptions of steady states and taken-for-granted balances between task and social dimensions of work relationships. Our analysis offers a social lens on videoconferencing fatigue and suggests the need to reconceptualize ideas around designing technologies and practices to enable both effectiveness and sociality in the context of video meetings.

Musculoskeletal pain among teleworkers: Frequency and associated factors

Teleworking, also known as remote working, has become the new norm for many workers since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Studies show that during this time, the incidence of musculoskeletal pain is increasing among these workers. Despite this, few studies have addressed the possible correlates of musculoskeletal pasin in teleworkers, with several potential predictors receiving little or no attention in published studies. With this in mind, an online survey was conducted among organizations in the IT and communications sectors in Malta. Information was collected from 459 teleworkers on the frequency of telework, frequency of work during nonworking hours, exercise frequency, burnout, and ergonomic arrangements. Demographic data were also collected. Results revealed that 55.8% reported one or more musculoskeletal pain. Back pain was the most common, followed by neck and shoulder pain. The presence of pain, the number of painful body areas, and the presence of back, neck, and shoulder pain were each individually associated with work during nonworking hours, lower levels of exercise, and higher levels of burnout. It is argued that musculoskeletal pain appears to be common among teleworkers and may negatively impact the quality of life and organizational performance. Companies and occupational health practitioners should strive to identify the prevalence of these problems among their teleworkers, develop appropriate preventive measures, and support workers to obtain multidisciplinary care when needed.

Pandemic-Induced Telework Challenges and Strategies.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, telework was an established discretionary practice with a considerable amount of research. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced people who had never worked from home before to do so. Our two-wave descriptive investigation provides a historical snapshot of what approximately 400 teleworkers experienced in the first two to three months of the pandemic. We explored how this experience differed for those who had previously teleworked, those who had children in their home, and those who had supervisory responsibilities. The data exposed telework challenges and pandemic-specific challenges. The results support job crafting theories that teleworkers proactively implement strategies to adjust their boundaries and relationships to meet their need (Biron et al., Personnel Review, 2022). The data also revealed that employees were still struggling two months later, despite implementing strategies like self-care, taking breaks, and psychological reframing. This research provides detailed evidence of how pandemic-induced telework is not the same as traditional telework and some initial evidence of the pandemic-induced telework adjustment time period. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41542-023-00151-1.

Deconstructing the myth of teleworking from a gender perspective: experiences and expectations during the pandemic

From a gender approach, the article analyses the expectations built around teleworking based on the experience lived during lockdown. The context of COVID-19 increases the modality of telework among a part of the employed population. To what extent the pandemic context reinforces the idea of teleworking as a solution for demands of a social nature and not as a flexible modality of work organization? To answer this question, a qualitative approach is presented based on in-depth interviews to the workforce of a public administration that has teleworked since the start of the pandemic. The results show telework as a female domestic conflict and a male productive time. In conclusion, it is pointed out that the experience of teleworking during lockdown entails different types of conflict defined according to gender, life cycle and professional category. This heterogeneity of conflicts determines the expectations about a future regulation of this modality built on the same base: teleworking perceived as a right.

How It Started, How It's Going: Why Past Research Does Not Encompass Pandemic-Induced Remote Work Realities and What Leaders Can Do for More Inclusive Remote Work Practices

In response to the increasing prevalence of remote work during and after the pandemic, industrial-organizational psychologists postulated a diverse set of recommendations on key actions based on what we already know about remote work complexities that are well captured in the literature. However, as most recent recommendations were made under light of past studies, which elaborated remote work as a voluntary perk rather than a reactive response under the crisis situation, most of the actual challenges that people experienced while working from home remained untouched. Therefore, with this piece, our aim is to present counterarguments to already published recommendations entailing the core difficulties linked to the forced nature of remote work during the pandemic. We believe that the unique pandemic conditions pose particular complexities that go beyond previously identified ones. Thus, there is a need to underline these unidentified obstacles to better equip leaders and employees working remotely during and after the pandemic conditions. We conclude our article by recommending leaders to evaluate the contextual differences in their organizational settings and take appropriate actions by taking a critical lens in evaluating the latest research.

Concluding Remarks: European Narratives About the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Coworking

This book is a collection of narrations about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from different countries collected within the Workgroup 2ATLAS of the COST action CA18214 ‘The Geography of New Working Spaces and the Impact on the Periphery'. This conclusive chapter comprehends the previous chapters and offers a comparative view regarding the effects on Coworking Spaces (CS), Governmental Measurements to curb the Pandemic, Effects on Work, Remote/Telework Work, Working-From-Home (WFH), Effects on Commuting, Transportation Mods and Services, Effects on the Housing, Place of Residence, Office and Real Estate Market, Effects on Tourism, Effects on Urban Planning. The final section of this chapter draws attention to the direct and indirect effects of coworking spaces. Direct effects on individuals and indirect effects as living-, work- and build-environment, taking into account space and economy, environment (energy) and urban planning. This book contributes to a fast-growing amount of literature on new working spaces, especially coworking spaces. Further empirical studies should be conducted to create evidence as a solid foundation for policies at the EU, national and subnational levels. © 2023, The Author(s).

An Overview of Work-Life Wellness for Teleworking Couples

A sizeable number of employees throughout Canada are continuing to telework following the COVID-19 pandemic. Cou-ples who telework may experience tension between their work and personal life. Telework may also have positive and negative impacts on work-life wellness depending on employee circumstances. For example, teleworking women with children may be expected to prioritize their home and family over their work. COVID-relat-ed restrictions have eased across Canada, which allow for increased freedom around home and work arrangements. It is plausible that a long-term shift towards allowing employees to work remotely full or part-time will occur, and with that, there will be associated changes in family dynamics as both part-ners adjust to this "new normal. " In response to the complex rela-tionship between teleworking and work-life wellness in the context of couples, the first author has pro-posed a study to research work-life wellness for teleworking couples, addressing the research question, "how do teleworking couples construct and cultivate work-life wellness together? ". It is anticipat-ed that this study will foster under-standing of work-life wellness in teleworking couples, and inform policies, counselling techniques, and future research.

The New Regulation of Telework and Remote Work in Portugal: Considerations and Prospects

COVID-1 9 led to an extraordinary increase in both telework and remote work, exposing some of the fragilities and loopholes of the Portuguese applicable regulation and leading the Portuguese Parliament to approve a new law on teleworking in the form of an amendment to the Labour Code aimed at extending the protection of teleworkers. This paper intends to analyse this new regulation implemented by Law No. 83/2021 of 6 December regarding its concept and scope of application;the telework agreement and the principle of volunteering;teleworkers' rights and employers' duties related to equipment, tools and teleworking-related expenses;employers' duty to abstain from any contact during rest periods;privacy and data protection;health, safety and work-related accidents;and the right to telework, namely for work-life balance reasons. The final objective is to provide a critical overview of the legal regulation, assessing its strengths and weaknesses.

Telework and productivity: insights from an original survey

Using a unique dataset of approximately 1,400 French manufacturing firms, this study provides insights into their utilization of telework in 2019. Our findings reveal firms that engaged in telework benefit from a Total Factor Productivity substantially higher than those that did not. Additionally, we uncover a non-linear relationship between the extent of telework usage and productivity. These descriptive results align with recent worker surveys and experiments, adding valuable and rich firm-level information to the ongoing conversation on teleworking and its potential impact on productivity. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Stakes of Telework in State Administrations in Morocco in Light of the Covid 19 Pandemic

New information and communication technologies have contributed to the adoption by a group of institutions, such as state administrations, of multiple modes of work, the foremost of which is telework, which has become imposed by the state of emergency conditions, especially after it became one of the effective measures to combat the spread of the new Coronavirus. This study mainly seeks to show the measures and procedures taken by Morocco to implement telework in state administrations, taking advantage of the digital policy it has pursued since 2013. By answering the following main problem: To what extent did the digital policy in Morocco and the exceptional measures taken to limit the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic contribute to downloading the telework system in state administrations? The study concluded that the digital policy adopted by Morocco constitutes a ground for the adoption of telework. While the administrative measures taken in general remain limited in the absence of an element of obligation compared to a group of countries that have enacted legislation regarding telework, which calls for searching for ways to reduce the size of the compulsions and challenges facing this type of work, especially as it is the best option in the event of a health emergency. © 2023 DSR Publishers/ The University of Jordan.