E-work evaluation through work–life balance, job effectiveness, organizational trust and flexibility: evidence from Kosovo during COVID-19

PurposeThis study aims to assess e-working remotely from the perspective of online workers based on important theoretical aspects that have been found to have an impact in this regard. Specifically, the study examines the influence that work–life balance, job effectiveness, organizational trust and flexibility have on e-workers experience in terms of satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachFor this research, the E-Work Life (EWL) scale, which consists of 17 questions and yields four critical dimensions, namely work–life balance, job effectiveness, organizational trust and flexibility, was adapted to measure remote e-working experience. Data were collected by sending the electronic questionnaire link to e-workers. In order to define the factorial structure and test whether the data fit the hypothesized measurement model, factor analysis was initially conducted on a sample of 230 e-workers. The relationship between EWL scale variables and e-worker experience was examined using order logit model.FindingsThis paper initially provides the validity and reliability of the EWL scale. Exploratory factor analysis optimally supported three factors and 13 items in contrast to the original scale. The influence that the remaining structure comprised of work–life balance, job effectiveness and flexibility has on e-worker experience was also measured. Results indicate that work–life balance and job effectiveness have a positive influence on e-workers satisfaction with online working, while flexibility does not show a positive association in this regard. Of the three variables, job effectiveness shows to be the most influential factor for e-worker satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsFor the nature of this study, a larger sample size would have been more preferable. It must also be noted that the study took place in circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic where social activities were limited, and this could have interfered with employees' emotions to some level and ultimately with their evaluation of e-work. It is suggested that further research be conducted.Practical implicationsOwing to the increasing occurrence of these working practices worldwide, particularly with the COVID-19 situation, this study, through its' findings, contributes to a broader knowledge on successful implementation of e-work environments. It helps individuals to comprehend crucial e-work-related issues and supports organizations to identify areas for improvement, so that effective strategies can be developed to increase productivity while supporting worker's well-being and satisfaction at the same time.Originality/valueThis paper addresses a previously identified need for further validation of the newly developed EWL scale in a different setting and with a new sample. At the same time, it adds to the understanding of the impact of important dimensions previously shown to affect e-worker satisfaction with online working.

Obstetric neonatal emergency simulation workshops in remote and regional South India: a qualitative evaluation

Background Healthcare facilities in remote locations with poor access to a referral centre have a high likelihood of health workers needing to manage emergencies with limited support. Obstetric and neonatal clinical training opportunities to manage childbirth emergencies are scant in these locations, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Objectives This study aimed to explore the factors, which influenced healthcare worker experience of attending birth emergencies in remote and regional areas of South India, and the perceived impact of attending the Obstetric and Neonatal Emergency Simulation (ONE-Sim) workshop on these factors. Design Qualitative descriptive study using pre- and post-workshop qualitative surveys. Settings Primary healthcare facilities in remote/regional settings in three states of South India. Participants A total of 125 healthcare workers attended the workshops, with 85 participants completing the pre- and post-workshop surveys included in this study. Participants consisted of medical and nursing staff and other health professionals involved in care at childbirth. Methods ONE-Sim workshops (with a learner-centred approach) were conducted across three different locations for interprofessional teams caring for birthing women and their newborns, using simulation equipment and immersive scenarios. Thematic analysis was employed to the free-text responses obtained from the surveys consisting of open-ended questions. Results Participants identified their relationship with the patient, the support provided by other health professionals, identifying their gaps in knowledge and experience, and the scarcity of resources as factors that influenced their experience of birth emergencies. Following the workshops, participant learning centred on improving team and personal performance and approaching future emergencies with greater confidence. Conclusions Challenges experienced by healthcare workers across sites in remote and regional South India were generally around patient experience, senior health professional support and resources. The technical and interpersonal skills introduced through the ONE-Sim workshop may help to address some of these factors in practice.

MANAGING BOUNDARIES WHILE WORKING FROM HOME, 1960-PRESENT

The COVID-19 pandemic has been heralded as a watershed moment for remote work, an exodus of the American workforce that will never fully reverse. As major corporations debate returning to the office full-time, and other workers press or are pressed into returning to the office, this panel situates the present realities of remote work within telework’s long history. From the paperless office to the electronic cottage, much of the focus in mainstream discourses surrounding telework has been on demonstrating the technological feasibility of leaving workers at home and workforce adaptability, with secondary celebrations of ecological soundness and potential for employment growth. Discourses around the benefit of telework also frequently draw on blanket statements about what remote work affords workers—from wellness and eschewing commute times, to increasing flexibility—but do not directly take up the lived quotidian experiences of doing labor in this configuration. This panel intervenes by yoking the politics and fantasies of remote work with worker experience during work from home, especially of self-management of both individual affect, group and power dynamics, and environment. Within this frame, this collection of papers suggests that, while remote work suggests a dislocation of office and home and the creation of a third space, the overlays of work and home are always top of mind for individual workers, whether in their homes with children or while traveling as “digital nomads.” The panel suggests that navigating this collapse creates a “third space,” and is a site of ever-present negotiation for workers, both individually and in social dynamics across organizations. This panel works across a number of methods including ethnography, archival research of both born-digital and traditional objects and draws on interviews and survey data. The panel points to not only how workers act in front of the screen, but what is supporting remote work off and behind it: domestic architectures, impression management, and paid and unpaid forms of domestic labor. The panel opens with a pair of papers that look at the historical development of work from home in order to situate the COVID-19 pandemic and its use of remote work as both a form of rupture and as a continuation of the logics, fantasies, and environments that pre-date this massive and rapid expansion into remote work. In “Home/Work: The Long History of the Future of Work,” Devon Powers reads the history of progress and futural narratives attached to telework, and the renovations both material and ideological to the spaces that are enfolded into remote work: home and the office. Powers pays special attention to the collapse of work and home, and the creation of a third space that is actually only an expansion of an existing one—the everywhere office. In “Make It Work: Hiding Children in Telework,” Hannah Zeavin takes up the feminization of remote work, which is subtended by the fantasy that, by working from home, women might “have it all”: they can do childcare and paid labor at once. Zeavin examines how workers have negotiated this collapse of waged and unwaged labor by disappearing and hiding the visual and sonic evidence of children during work from home. Nancy Baym et al look to the management of the worker’s own visibility in “Video On/Off: Managing Visibility in Remote Videoconferencing” with 44% of American workers suddenly home in the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors ran a five-month longitudinal diary study of meetings at a large technology company between April and August 2020, comprised of 849 employees. The paper looks at reasons for (dis)comfort with appearing on camera during work and how workers negotiate the contradictions of on and off. In “Abruptly Online: Public Employees’ Adaptation to Virtual Communication in Times of Crisis," Sierra Bray and Cynthia Barboza-Wilkes consider the special category of public employees and the challenges and benefits of work from home in a group of workers who had a novel relationship to working online. Andrea Alarcon, in “Outsourcing the Home: the Digital Nomad Tactic ” looks at the apotheosis of work from home in the rise of the “digital nomad.” Alarcon intervenes by pointing to the unacknowledged support and costs of “nomadic life” in the city of Medellin and the workers who travel and collapse the identities of tourist and laborer, and vacation with work.

Data-Analytics-Based Factory Operation Strategies For Die-Casting Quality Enhancement

This paper proposes data-analytics-based factory operation strategies for the quality enhancement of die-casting. We first define the four main problems of die casting that result in lower quality: [P1] gaps between the input and output casting parameter values, [P2] occurrence of preheat shots, [P3] lateness of defect distinction, and [P4] worker-experience-based casting parameter tuning. To address these four problems, we derived seven tasks that should be conducted during factory operation: [T1] implementation of exploratory data analysis (EDA) for investigating the trends and correlations between data, [T2] deduction of the optimal casting parameter output values for the production of fair-quality products, [T3] deduction of the upper and lower control limits for casting parameter input–output gap management, [T4] development of a preheat shot diagnosis algorithm, [T5] development of a defect prediction algorithm, [T6] development of a defect cause diagnosis algorithm, and [T7] development of a casting parameter tuning algorithm. The details of the proposed data-analytics-based factory operation strategies with regard to the casting parameter input and output data, data preprocessing, data analytics method used, and implementation are presented and discussed. Finally, a case study of a die-casting factory in South Korea that has adopted the proposed strategies is introduced.

Mental health service user and worker experience of psychosocial support via telehealth through the COVID­19 pandemic: A qualitative study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The Covid-19 pandemic saw telehealth rapidly become the primary way to receive mental health care. International research has validated many of the benefits and challenges of telehealth known pre-pandemic for specific population groups. However, if telehealth is to assume prominence in future mental health service delivery, greater understanding is needed about its capacity to provide psychosocial support for people with complex and enduring mental health conditions. OBJECTIVE Focusing on an Australian community-managed provider of psychosocial intervention and support, this qualitative study aimed to understand the service user and worker experience of psychosocial support via telehealth through the COVID­19 pandemic. METHODS This research was jointly developed, and conducted by people with lived experience of mental ill health and/or distress, mental health service providers, and university-based researchers. Semi structured interviews conducted between August and November 2020 explored participant experiences of receiving or providing psychosocial support via telehealth platforms including telephone, text, and video conferencing. Qualitative data was analysed thematically, quantitative data was collated and analysed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS Twenty service users and eight workers completed individual interviews via telephone or video conferencing platform. Sixty percent (n=12) of service users received psychosocial support services by telephone, 30% (n=6) by videoconferencing, and 10% (n=2) through a blend of telephone and videoconferencing. Of note, 55% (n=11) of service user participants stated a future preference for in-person psychosocial support services, 30% (n=6) preferred to receive a mixture of in-person and telehealth, and 15% (n=3) elected telehealth only. Two meta- themes emerged as integral to worker and service user experience of telehealth during the pandemic: (1) creating safety and comfort, and (2) a whole new way of working. The first meta-theme comprises sub-themes relating to a sense of safety and comfort while using telehealth; including trusting in the relationship, and having and exercising choice and control. The second meta-theme contains sub-themes reflecting key challenges and opportunities associated with the shift from in-person psychosocial support to telehealth. CONCLUSIONS Overall, our findings highlighted that most service users experienced telehealth positively, but this was dependent on them continuing to get the support they needed in a way that was safe and comfortable. Whilst access difficulties of a subgroup of service users should not be ignored, most service users and workers were able to adapt to telehealth by focusing on maintaining the relationship and using choice and flexibility to maintain service delivery. Although most research participants expressed a preference for a return to in person psychosocial support, or hybrid in-person and telehealth models, there was a general recognition that intentional use of telehealth could contribute to flexible and responsive service delivery. Notably, challenges to telehealth provision of psychosocial support identified in this study are yet to be fully understood.

“Language alludes to everything”: A pilot study on front-line worker experience with newcomer integration

There remains an ongoing need to address not only the post-migration experiences of newcomers settling in Calgary but also to understand how systems that serve them perceive, make sense of, and contribute to these experiences. By hearing from those who work with newcomers within the institutional settings that support newcomers, we can begin to understand some complexities of newcomer integration. The purpose of this qualitative pilot study was to explore the perceptions that front-line workers hold regarding needs and experiences of newcomers. This study involved a series of eleven semi-structured interviews with workers at an immigrant-serving language-learning agency which were analyzed using thematic coding. The findings highlight: front-line workers perception of their newcomer clients’ identity in correlation to language; the clients’ emotional burden and sense of belonging; and the challenges clients faced balancing everyday commitments. Moreover, this study explores the front-line worker’s role in cultural brokerage and promoting wellness.

An evaluation of the critical factors influencing productivity of masonry work in construction sites in Kano, Nigeria

Construction labour productivity is of great interest to practitioners and researchers because it affects the performance and success of the project. This research assesses and ranks factors that critically influenced productivity of masonry work for some selected within Kano metropolis, Nigeria. A total of sixty three (63) respondents which include construction experts from lower to top management levels of various positions were selected. Structured questionnaire related to masonry labour and productivity was distributed to the selected respondents. The four most critical factors that negatively influence labour productivity of masonry as identified by the respondents work were found to be delayed in payment process. Payment process discourages some qualified contractors from bidding for the job, material quantity which result in stoppage of material delivery, security of life and property. Security as a constraint has negative and significant influence on the program of projects and worker experience. Lack of labourexperience has a very high effect on productivity; experience improves both intellectual and physical abilities that improve productivity.The inferences drawn from this study could be used by the project managers to take account of these factors at an early stage in order to improve labour productivity of workers on construction site in Nigerian.