scholarly journals Working from Home: Impact on Wellbeing and Work-Life Balance

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-78
Author(s):  
Roya Gorjifard ◽  
Joanne Crawford

Working from home (WFH), teleworking, or telecommuting has become a new work norm since the Covid-19 pandemic. Many organisations are showing an interest in testing a hybrid work style when the pandemic is over; a mix of WFH with office-based work has the potential to improve work-life balance (WLB). Organisations across the globe quickly adopted WFH to maintain their business continuity during the pandemic. However, it co-concurred with particular occupational health and safety (OHS) concerns. Our research review shows that the frequency of WFH is significantly related to its impact on WLB. Women, specifically, are more likely to find it challenging to maintain balance between office work and domestic responsibilities. Additionally, WFH leads to personal costs for many, for example, maintaining a suitable workstation setup at home. The continuous demand for up-skilling/re-skilling due to fast improving technology and job satisfaction is another example of the risk to workers’ wellbeing. This research paper reviews the most important risk determinants of WLB due to WFH. We discuss that workplaces should align their strategies in the longer term to support employees’ wellbeing risk management. Employers, employees – women particularly – should use this rapid change as an opportunity to learn and grow.

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 97-115
Author(s):  
Olufemi Aladejebi

As part of the response to Covid 19, working from home (WFH) was enforced by governments of more than 150 countries in order to curtail the transmission of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic had brought new business ideas, making organizations change how they conduct their business. This study aims to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working from home in the scientific literature, using questionnaires, how employees feel about WFH in the aspects of family values, increase of performance, isolation and disrupts work-life balance, how workers cope with WFH. Data was collected from the primary source by using a structured questionnaire completed through google form. The target respondents were employers and employees both from the private sector of the economy . Data was gathered from 504 respondents. SPSS and Excel were used to analyse the data. The majority of the respondents were employees (76.98%), while 23.02% were employers. An inquiry was also made about the marital status of the respondents, and the majority (71.83%) were married while 28.17% were single. The study showed that respondents were still able to connect with their teammates despite working from home, frequently communicate with leaders, and have clarity on working from home policies. It can also be seen that the majority of the respondents enjoyed working from home, although they still look forward to returning to the office. Findings on working from home on family values show that this work style positively influences availability at the home front. Findings on the effect on work performance show average agreement on the positive impact of working from home. Agreement on the negative impact of working from home on office/social interaction and work-life balance was also seen to be on average. It can be inferred from this study that working from home is a work style that employees would prefer to continue post-COVID-19.


Author(s):  
Aditi Singh, Et. al.

Work life balance has always been challenging to achieve for every individual working in different sector especially for women as it is not easy to do day to day chores at home and office work together while working from home. This paper intent to discover the mental and physical exhaustion and difficulties and challenges encountered by employees during pandemic and small solutions or advices for it. The existing problem has pushed the employees to increase their limits to fight in such situation. And have made them capable of managing both job and home under one roof leading more towards work life integration than work life balance. Employees who have accepted the changes and embraced it and have upgraded themselves with the digitalization are able to meet all the demands relating to time, home, family, work, health and responsibilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Akizumi Tsutsumi

Background: Work style reform in Japan is under way in response to a predicted shortfall in the workforce owing to the country’s low birth rate and high longevity, health problems due to excessive working hours, and the need for diversification of employment. A legal limit for physicians’ overtime work will be introduced in 2024. Objectives: This study examines the work–life balance among Japan’s doctors in the context of ongoing work style reform. Methodology: The study applied included selective reviews of demographic shifts, legislation against long working hours, and trends in doctors’ participation in the labor force. Results: Japan’s doctors work long hours, which creates a conflict between their working and private lives. The proportion of female doctors in Japan is the lowest among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Employment trends among women doctors by age group show an M-curve: many quit their jobs upon marriage or childbirth. Gender role stereotyping has led male Japanese doctors to devote themselves entirely to their professions and working excessively long hours: they leave all family work to their female partners. This stereotyping obliges female doctors to undertake household chores in addition to their career tasks, which makes it difficult for them to re-enter their careers. Because of the harsh working conditions (including long working hours), there has been a decline in newly graduated doctors in some medical specialties. Conclusions: For sustainable, effective health care in Japan, it is necessary to improve the work conditions for Japan’s doctors towards achieving work–life harmony.


2022 ◽  
pp. 153-162

As we continue to examine and work to achieve trustworthiness and improved performance, our focus must remain on analyzing telework benefits gained and risks involved. The success factors involved in helping organizations are productivity, employee risk, achievement, and accountability. Combining productivity and improved performance in an analytical undertaking can lead to a complete picture of success or failure. Success relies on achieving the best possible outcome with a minimum of input, and productivity is related in that it is a concentration on the output, or what is produced. Productivity is often activity based to understand the value of inputs, outputs, and return on investments. The authors also examine factors that reduce the stress of performing every day: social distancing, flexibility, enhanced work-life balance, and worker independence. These factors can continue to be employed to lessen the impact of COVID-19-related challenges (or the next crisis) so people can focus on health and safety. Managing these stressors reduces the physical and mental input required to perform.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 388-398
Author(s):  
Nur Fadzilah Muhamad Zamani ◽  
Madaha Hanafi @ Mohd Ghani ◽  
Siti Fatimah Mohamad Radzi ◽  
Noor Hanim Rahmat ◽  
Nur Syafiqah Abdul Kadar ◽  
...  

Many sectors are implementing work from home policy as it is one of the effective ways to avoid physical contact among workers and to control the spread of COVID-19. Amidst the stressful pandemic, working from home poses a different kind of stress among both the employers and employees. Numerous studies have found positive and negative consequences of working from home. With or without the pandemic, working from home has become a new way to work. Some industries cannot function well with their employees working from home. Many are finding ways to make work from home a success. This study explores work from home motivation among 53 employees of different industries. The instrument used is a survey. The survey has 4 sections. Section A has 4 items on demographic profile. Section B has 10 items about availability via flexibility. Section C has 10 items on safety through work-life balance and section D has 10 items on meaningfulness through work performance. Findings reveal interesting motivational influence for employees who work from home.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Werdie Van Staden ◽  
James Appleyard

If you are an employee or employer, occupational health physician, or a physician concerned with the work–life balance of your patient, this fourth issue on work–life balance and burnout is for you. It culminates in practical guidance captured in the Tokyo Declaration on Work–Life balance together with five articles that clarifies the golden reach of person-centered medicine (PCM) in occupational health of both a clinician and a patient. How this golden reach extends much further than patient-centered medicine is captured in the first article. An employed person, whether patient or practitioner, works within an interpersonal context in which all role players including the employer should actively contribute in nurturing an employee’s well-being and work–life balance. The second article engages with the reach of PCM in reporting on the personality features needed to cope with (or avert) unemployment as is evident in a comparison between 245 long-term unemployed individuals and a control group of 1,948. The third article articulates how the golden reach of PCM is informed by the empirical relationship between work engagement and burnout. The fourth article considers the work–life balance among Japan’s physicians in the context of ongoing work style reform. The fifth article underscores that a person-centered work environment is crucial in addressing the challenges of burnout among physicians and medical students.


2021 ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
Susanti Anomsari ◽  
◽  
Agung Wahyu Handaru ◽  
Gatot Nazir Ahmad ◽  
◽  
...  

The Covid-19 pandemic affected all dimensions of human life. To prevent the spread of the disease, many companies have allowed their employees to work from home in the quarantine period. However, working from home requires a high level of self-discipline from the employee. Changing the balance between work and personal life can impact employee productivity, which requires independent research. This study aims to determine the influence of work from home and work discipline on employee performance through the work-life balance as mediating variable. The sample in this study is 311 employees of the Central Financial and Development Supervision Agency in Jakarta. Data for analysis were collected by questionnaire with Likert scale. Based on the formula Slovin, for the purposes of this study, 311 respondents were selected to take the survey. The spread of the questionnaire runs approximately 1(one) week. The return questionnaires are done indirectly through a Google form. The authors used the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and AMOS version 22 program to process the data. To develop the research toolkit, the authors applied tested and validated indicators in previous studies. The analysis results show that work from home, work discipline, and work-life balance significantly affect employee performance. Despite this, the companies increase the attention to their employees in carrying out work from home, work discipline, and work-life balance because working from home is a challenge for many employees. In particular, some employees lack discipline in carrying out their work at home. The pandemic has forced workers to be more flexible to maintain a work-life balance and achieve higher performance at work from home.


Author(s):  
Nicoleta Chicu ◽  
Alexandra Catalina Nedelcu

Abstract The present study focuses on a new approach in the process of developing personal work styles, based on the usefulness of 360 degree feedback, taking into consideration the following dimensions: work-life balance, gender-age, self-development and the behavior a person has, following the process of self-development and defining work style. Using different approaches, the study attempts to identify if there are some differences between the evaluations received from the family and the ones from the work environment. All these factors aim at improving personal, but also organizational performances. Based on the current body of the literature, a discussion is made and conclusions are presented.


Working from home (WFH) is now becoming a new normal, and today it brings a big change in the way people think and act. However, some people find that working from home is a big challenge, especially for those with families and young children. This is not easy and it leads to stress and burdens because the employees were not able to share a good time with their family and work demands. This study aims to identify the influencing factors of Work-life balance (WLB) on employee performance and moderating effect of religiosity towards WLB and employee performance of HEIs. The study will be used to accumulate empirical literature by the name of religiosity towards WLB and employee performance in different online database sources. The review findings show that there is a significant effect of WLB especially, technological, institutional, and individual factors are considered the most influential effects on employee performance. This study also identified that there is a moderating effect of religiosity towards WLB and employee performance of HEIs. The findings will be used to develop a reach framework and will be conducted a rigorous depth study and will be drawn policy guidelines for further improvement of WLB and employee performance in HEIs.


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