scholarly journals Gaining trust and remaining mentally sane while working from home : The importance of employee wellbeing

Intersections ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-240
Author(s):  
Ráchel Surányi
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Employee Wellbeing ◽  
Medical Issues ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
Work Affect ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit us hard. It is not only difficult in terms of psychological and medical issues, but it has turned into an economic crisis as well. One of the most significant ‘side effects’ of the first wave was widespread remote work, which was not regular – many people had to work from home while also taking care of their loved ones (be they children or other family members, or friends). Our research – part of an EU-funded project on sustainable mobility – was carried out in the city of Szeged (Hungary) among seven companies/employers. As the project was strongly affected by the crisis, the research focused on the impact of COVID19 and the lockdown on remote work. How did remote work affect employees’ mental, physical, and social wellbeing? How did employers and employees deal with the new situation? What can we learn from this crisis regarding the relationship between remote work and mental health? To find answers to our questions, we used mixed methods, i.e., combined qualitative with quantitative methodology. This case study analyses the related difficulties and challenges from the employee point of view and sheds light on some of the good practices and measures which can be applied by other companies.

scholarly journals Opportunities and Challenges of Remote Work

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-160
Author(s):  
Tatyana Kicheva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World Economy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
World Health ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Working Environments ◽  
Individual Point ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Impact

In a dynamic crisis situation such as the current one, the forecasts for the impact of COVID-19 on the world economy and the development of individual countries and cities are constantly changing. The impact of COVID-19 has turned many industries upside down in unexpected ways. More organizations switch to remote working environments for their employees due to the current world health crisis. The purpose of this article is to outline the opportunities and challenges facing Bulgarian employees working from home during the MarchApril 2020 state of mergency and beyond. We discuss the many advantages and disadvantages of remote work from an individual point of view.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Pandemic (COVID-19) on Globalization – The Perspective of Electronic Commerce

2021 ◽  
Vol 3/2021 (93) ◽  
pp. 53-72
Author(s):  
Witold Chmielarz ◽  
◽  
Marek Zborowski ◽  
Alicja Fandrejewska
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Commerce ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
International Commerce ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Desktop Computers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Staying At Home

Purpose: The objective of this article is to examine the impact of e-commerce and m-commerce on broadly perceived globalization factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the opinion of customers. Design/methodology/approach: The CAWI method was used with the participation of individual, active internet users from both periods. The differences between the results were analyzed using the distance indices: city distance and Euclidean distance. The data from March 2020 (before the pandemic) and from December 2020 (during the pandemic) were used as the basis for comparisons. Findings: The findings point to increasing diversification in the product/services range and the growing number of goods and services purchased abroad. There occur much smaller differences with regard to infrastructure factors which have a direct influence on foreign e-commerce. Also, in the respondents’ opinions, greater popularity and more frequent use of international commerce solutions during the pandemic is treated as a factor which supports the development of globalization. The main observed changes during the COVID-19 pandemic are infrastructure changes (staying at home, remote learning, remote work, etc.) and an extend and standardized approach to e-commerce. The second equally important effect is the shift from desktop computers to mobile devices. Research limitations/implications: The limitation resulted from the research sample obtained in the academic environment. Students are a group supporting the globalization processes, where e-business solutions are widely used, but their purchases of products/services, including foreign goods, are often limited due to lack of funds. Originality/value: The original value of the article is the identification and specification of the main factors supporting globalization in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic from the point of view of electronic commerce.

scholarly journals Exploring the Potential of a Gamified Approach to Reduce Energy Use and Carbon Emissions in the Household Sector

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3380
Author(s):  
Marta Gangolells ◽  
Miquel Casals ◽  
Marcel Macarulla ◽  
Núria Forcada
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Cumulative Energy ◽  
Cumulative Energy Demand ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
The Impact

This paper analyzes the impact of an innovative approach based on gamification to promote reduced energy consumption in social housing. The game was developed and validated under the auspices of the EU-funded project EnerGAware-Energy Game for Awareness of energy efficiency in social housing communities in an affordable housing pilot located in Plymouth (United Kingdom). The results showed that the future exploitation of the game holds important energy- and emissions-saving potential. Assuming that the game is distributed freely by European energy providers to their domestic end-users, the game was found to be able to save more than 48.9 secondary terawatt-hours per year (TWhs) and 18.8 million tons of CO2e annually, contributing up to around 8% to the target set for the European buildings sector to keep global warming under 2 °C. The results also showed that the game is highly feasible from the energy point of view, even when we consider the energy consumed upstream, due to its low cumulative energy demand and its potential for household energy reduction. The results of this research provide helpful information for private and public stakeholders, as they contribute to determining the sustainability of promoting energy saving through gaming.

scholarly journals Benefits and Challenges of Telework During The Covid-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-135
Author(s):  
Susanti Saragih ◽  
◽  
Santy Setiawan ◽  
Teddy Markus ◽  
Peter Rhian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Total Respondent ◽  
Hr Managers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Work Arrangement ◽  
At Home

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the term work from home (WFH) has been introduced to refer to a work arrangement in which individual can complete their duties while they are at home. While most flexible work arrangements are a preference, work from home is mandatory. Therefore, the impact of WFH during the Covid-19 pandemic needs to be studied. The total respondent of this study is 337 employees, who are works at home during the pandemic. The results showed that the three main benefits employees might gain during WFH are flexibility, more time with family, and less travel time. On the other side, employees struggle to balance their personal and work life, access to websites or software, and limited devices and workspace. Most of the companies are not ready for the WFH scheme though some of them gave support to employees (e.g., quota subsidy). This research gave some essential suggestions for HR managers in designing remote work for the future.

scholarly journals The Impact of Technological Developments on Remote Working: Insights from the Polish Managers’ Perspective

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Maria Urbaniec ◽  
Agnieszka Małkowska ◽  
Hanna Włodarkiewicz-Klimek
Keyword(s):  
Economic Activity ◽  
Previous Experience ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Adoption Theory ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Day To Day Operations ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

“Stay at home” orders during the COVID-19 pandemic radically changed the day-to-day operations of many organizations and moved employees from offices to homes. The sudden crisis forced companies to reformulate their operations. Enabling employees to work from home has become a necessity for both business continuity and survival. The unexpected crisis has also proved to be beneficial for some aspects of economic activity. This research focuses on identifying and measuring the benefits of and barriers to remote work from an organizational perspective, as perceived by managerial staff in Poland. We investigate the factors that influence the assessment of the scale of benefits of and barriers to remote working. The study examines the impact of various factors on the benefits of and barriers to remote working, such as a company’s previous experience with remote working, the support provided to employees by the company, the monitoring of remote working effects, and the implementation of new IT tools. These results suggest that the way the company and employees are managed in a crisis, the approach of superiors to the evaluation and control of effects on work, and the adaptation of support to the real needs of employees, all play fundamental roles. The factors examined that influence the perceived benefits of or barriers to remote working from an organization’s perspective contribute to adoption theory.

REMOTE WORK MANAGEMENT DURING A PANDEMIC

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentyn Kovshyk ◽  
◽  
Olha Yatsenko ◽  
Mykola Horbunov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Personal Contact ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Continuous Training ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Methodical Approach ◽  
Management Functions ◽  
Structural Blocks ◽  
The Impact

For almost two years, humankind has been living in a coronavirus pandemic. It has gone from a complete misunderstanding of what to do and how to live and work to a step where informed and thoughtful decisions are already being made, and crisis management programs are being developed. The challenge for many was a new format of remote work, for which neither managers nor their subordinates were ready. The article considers the meaning of the term “telework” (“remote work”), the number of remote workers in the world before the pandemic, the peculiarities of the legal regulation of telework in Ukraine, and the number of people who were able to work from home after the introduction of quarantine in the country. The problems in management that complicate the transition to the remote format of work are analyzed. Authors list industries with a high and medium ability to work remotely; describe psychological aspects of unpreparedness for the transition to remote employment of managers and subordinates. Emphasis is placed on the availability of certain technical capabilities, as well as special knowledge, skills, and abilities to master tools for remote work, which highlights the need for continuous training of staff. It is noted that the classic management functions have also transformed: they take into account the prevention and leveling of the impact of negative factors associated with the pandemic. The key directions of managerial and organizational work during the pandemic are substantiated: ensuring the safety of workers, providing staff training, providing technical capabilities for remote work, and implementation of management functions. The general methodical approach and recommendations concerning the system of organizational measures having three structural blocks are presented: the general organizational measures; ensuring the safety of participants in bureaucratic procedures that require personal contact; providing technical capabilities for remote work. It is assumed that if the proposed measures are applied, enterprises and organizations will be able to increase their efficiency, operate in a crisis, and reduce the negative impact of the pandemic on workers.

Darwin’s Impact on the Medical Sciences

2019 ◽  
pp. 171-186
Author(s):  
Fabio Zampieri
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Darwinian Revolution ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Organic Evolution ◽  
Medical Issues ◽  
Nineteenth Century Medicine ◽  
The Impact

In early nineteenth century medicine, the concepts of organic evolution and natural selection emerged in different contexts, partly anticipating Darwinian revolution. In particular, the anatomical concept of disease favored the perception that men and animals were very similar from a morphological, physiological and pathological point of view, and that this could indicate a certain degree of kinship between them. The debate around human races and human pathological heredity saw first formulations of the principle of natural selection, even if without a full appraisal of its evolutionary implications. Charles Darwin took many inspirations from these medical theories. The impact of the theory of evolution formulated by him in 1859 was only apparently slight in medicine. It is even possible to support that evolutionary concepts contributed in a significant way to the most important medical issues, debates and new discipline in the period between 1880 and 1940.

scholarly journals Assessing the impact of teleworking on employees’ labor productivity and effectiveness of entity in the period of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-52
Author(s):  
Muyassarzoda Fayzieva ◽  
Sanjar Goyipnazarov ◽  
Gulnora Abdurakhmanova
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Work Team ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Emotional Environment ◽  
The Impact

This paper examines the impact of teleworking on employees’ labour productivity and the entity`s management in the condition of global pandemic Covid-19 in Uzbekistan. The epidemiological and dynamic nature of the Covid-19 crisis in which organizations have to adopt a work-from-home policy made this investigation very necessary. When the issue is explained more broadly, this empirical research investigates two significant aspects about teleworking process in organizations in the period of lockdown in Uzbekistan. First, teleworking positively affects employee’ labour productivity and the effectiveness of the entity, and the second teleworking complicates the management activities and affects negatively the socio-emotional environment in the work team. The objectives of the study are to identify whether the process of telework affects positively or negatively the organization’s current labour processes and propose multiple recommendations regarding to improve the telework mechanism for enabling prospective labour concerns in the human resources field of Uzbekistan. To achieve the objectives, a survey research design was adopted. The techniques employed in analyzing the data were quantitative methodology, descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results indicated that working from the home policy has a strong and positive relationship with employee’ labour productivity and the effectiveness of the entity if it is measured as a result-oriented rather than activity. It was also found that teleworking has a significant relationship with complicatedness of the management and it brings to the negative socio-emotional environment in the work team. Based on the findings, the researcher concluded that unexpected telecommuting in the period of Covid-19 has both negative and positive impact on employee performance and the entity`s management control.

scholarly journals Is working from home the new workplace panacea? Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for the future world of work

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremias J. De Klerk ◽  
Mandi Joubert ◽  
Hendrikjan F. Mosca
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Office Work ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Working From Home ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

Orientation: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of employees to work from home as governments implemented lockdowns.Research purpose: This study examined the impact of working exclusively from home on employee engagement and experience, and determined beneficial and distracting factors.Motivation for the study: Remote working trends have risen steeply since the onset of COVID-19 and are unlikely to taper off soon. Organisations need to understand the impact of remote work when reconsidering working arrangements.Research approach/design and method: A dual-approach qualitative design was followed. The sample comprised 25 employees (N = 25) who were forced to work exclusively from home during COVID-19. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.Main findings: Working from home for protracted periods rendered paradoxical outcomes. Employees could work effectively with improved employee engagement and experience, but there were challenges rendering adverse effects. The experienced benefits of working from home created expectations that this practice would continue in future, along with some office work.Practical/managerial implications: Organisations need to continue, though not exclusively, with work-from-home arrangements. The ideal ratio of remote work to office work was seen as two to three days per week. However, support and cultural practices would have to be put in place.Contribution/value-add: The COVID-19 lockdown provided a unique environment to study remote work. For the first time, employees and organisations were placed in a situation where they could experience working from home in a stark and compulsory form, devoid of idealistic fantasies or romanticism.

scholarly journals The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Resilience of Sustainable Mobility in Sicily

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiziana Campisi ◽  
Socrates Basbas ◽  
Anastasios Skoufas ◽  
Nurten Akgün ◽  
Dario Ticali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Road Users ◽  
Cycling Frequency ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented measures changing travel habits in many countries. Many users have started to prefer traveling by private cars, which is against the sustainability policies of the European cities. The necessity of gaining a deeper understanding of road users’ travel habit changes, their feelings on public transport use, and their perceptions of using sustainable urban mobility modes has emerged for future transport planning. Considering these facts, the study in this paper aimed to investigate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on road users’ perceptions, needs, and use of sustainable travel modes (i.e., public transport, walking, and cycling). An online survey was carried out during the period from March to May 2020 in the case study area, Sicily of Southern Italy. Regarding the population of the case study, the survey was representative, with 431 individuals. The survey included variables, namely gender, age, city of residence, private car ownership, walking and cycling frequency before and during the pandemic, public transport use frequency for leisure activities before and during the pandemic, need for remote working, and the stress and anxiety perception of using public transport during the pandemic. The analysis started with descriptive statistics and it was followed by correlation analysis in order to explore the characteristics of the dataset and relationship between variables. It was found that these were not statistically significantly correlated at a 95% confidence level. An ordinal regression model was applied for determining the predictions. The results suggested that women were less likely to walk during the pandemic than men. Participants were more likely to resume remote work even after the second phase in order to reduce their daily travel needs and keep their isolation. Participants have expressed a positive opinion on the use of micromobility during pandemic situations. These results can be considered as a basis for sustainable urban planning and a guide for decision-makers who aim to encourage the use of public transport, walking, cycling, and micromobility.

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