Please one use the three souces Below.
Sources:
Source 1: (Adapted from) Zimmermann, A. (2021). Remote work can boost productivity and
curb burnout. LSE Business Review.
Before the pandemic, many managers would laugh at the thought of allowing employees to work
remotely. Now, as the future-of-work paradigm shift accelerates, organisations have seen how
people working from home can be even more productive and less prone to burnout. Remote work
options that are sustainable, equitable, and humane are essential for organisations to weather the
current and future disruptions.
Years ago, when I was working with a group of leaders in London, there was a healthy amount of
pushback (and some laughter) when we discussed the merits of allowing remote working and how
it could benefit a broader group of employees. It was not that this organisation was unable to offer
remote working due to the nature of the work, but rather it was valued less. At one point, a leader
said, “you can’t possibly reward the work of someone who is in the office most of the time [the
same as] with someone who is working from home”. This comment was met with many nods.
Clearly, there was more work to do. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
As someone who has worked remotely for the past 14 years, I realise that working from home
during the global crisis has, of course, been challenging for many people, not least because of the
stresses and strains of living through an emergency. Overnight, many workers were told to stay at
home and found themselves trying to replicate their normal work patterns. However, as the futureof-work paradigm shift continues to accelerate, remote work options that are sustainable,
equitable, and humane are essential for organisations to weather the current and future
disruptions. To guard against an ‘always-on’ culture, managers should be trained to prioritise
empathy and inclusion.
New research from Catalyst reveals that remote working options have many benefits for
businesses and workers, but only if they are done intentionally to promote inclusion.
The report, entitled ‘Remote-Work Options Can Boost Productivity and Curb Burnout’ finds that
employees with access to remote work had lower rates of burnout due to COVID-19 related
workplace factors, workplace factors in general, and even from factors in their personal life—
suggesting that remote-work access was a critical resource to cope with the fallout from the
COVID-19 pandemic. When employees have access to remote-work options such as a flexible
work location, distributed teams, and/or the option to work from home, burnout at work decreases
by over a quarter (26%).
Overall, compared to those without remote-work access, access to remote work increases
employee well-being, productivity, innovation, and inclusion. It increases innovation by 63%, work
engagement by 75%, organisational commitment by 68%, and 93% of employees are more likely
to report feeling included. These findings are particularly important for women and mothers, who
shouldered much of the care-giving responsibilities during the pandemic. A Catalyst survey found
that 62% of women employees said that COVID-19 had negatively impacted their prospects for
promotion, compared to 57% men. Women with childcare responsibilities who can work remotely
are 32% less likely to leave their job in the next year compared to women with childcare
responsibilities who are not able to work from home. In a previous study, we found that women
without access to flexible work arrangements downgraded their career aspirations by 29%.
The report also reveals the importance of empathy. When a manager demonstrates empathy and
an employee has remote-work access, burnout is further decreased by 43%. A manager showing
care, concern and an understanding of an employee’s life situation provides essential support for
all employees, not least women with children.
Source 2: Thorstensson, E. (2020). The Influence of Working from Home on Employees’
Productivity.
In recent years more public and private organisations offer working from home as an alternative
way of working for their employees. Working from home (WFH) has both benefits and drawbacks
for the employees when it is compared to office working.
One of the most influential reasons for employees preferring working from home is the flexible
scheduling options. Lupu (2017) states that flexible scheduling enables employees to have a
certain autonomy in planning their daily lives, including both employee and family activities
according to their needs, such as taking their children to school or go to the doctor. Ford and Butts
(1991) mention the possibility of the employees to modify their working schedule daily or even
hourly. Wienclaw (2019) lists the benefits of flexible scheduling option as follows: being free to
sleep in and work late, starting and ending early, working forty hours in four days instead of five or
six days a week, scheduling personal appointments (e.g. physician, dentist, hairdresser) during
office work-hours and completing the work later in the evening without using vacation days.
Another benefit of working from home for the employees is saving time in commuting to the office,
avoiding rush-hour traffic. Ford and Butts (1991) claim that eliminating the stresses of driving in
rush hour traffic may represent the most important advantage for many employees. Wienclaw
(2019) indicates that by not commuting, employees will have more free-time to spend with their
families.
There is also a financial benefit from many aspects for the employees working from home. They
can save money by dispensing with the commute to the office such as savings in gasoline and
vehicle wear costs for parking or other transportation. Employees can also save money by
eliminating costs of appropriate office clothing and lunches. Another financial benefit they have is
decreased cost with “babysitting/kindergartens/nurses and not having to pay for afterschool
programs. Working from home has benefits particularly for new mothers or the physically
handicapped who find travel burdensome or are unable to leave the home but need or want to
stay in the workforce (Ford and Butts, 1991). Option of providing care to sick children or elders
while working is another benefit (Beňo 2018), (Wienclaw 2019:). Moreover, working from home
makes it possible for people living in isolated areas to be employed (Lupu 2017:), it reduces the
chances of getting sick, fatigue and work-related stress (Lupu 2017:695).
There are also several drawbacks of working from home for employees. Lupu (2017:696)
mentions these drawbacks: “the technical problems that cannot be solved remotely, the unequal
salaries between employees working in the office and teleworkers; employee isolation, limitation of
normal interaction with the colleagues and difficulties in organizing union activities”.
Another important drawback for the employees is the hindrance of career advancement. Ford and
Butts (1991:21) claim that the saying “out of sight, out of mind” is valid for employees working from
home when it is time for promotions of the personnel. They claim that co-workers remaining in the
office have a higher chance to be known and get promoted quicker, as the management does not
know about the interpersonal communication skills and relationships of the employee working from
home. This situation affects his or her future employment as well, as the present employer or the
supervisors do not have a clear picture about the employee working from home and therefore
have doubts about making recommendations.
The final drawback of working from home for the employees is concerned with lacking opportunity
to have informal communication network with the colleagues. When the employees do not have
such interactions, they may feel alienated from the colleagues and company goals and values
(Ford and Butts 1991).
The attitude and policy of the organisations towards WFH affect the productivity of their
employees. The productivity increases if the employees feel that their organization trusts and
cares about them and provides them with training, good project management and adequate
resources to get their job done in time. It influences the productivity of the employees positively
when the employees do not have to waste time, money and energy on transportation between
home and office.
If there is a suitable work space at home, employees work more productively when they can focus
on their work and finish their tasks without being interrupted and distracted by their colleagues in
the office. On the other hand, lacking face-to-face communication with the colleagues may have
an adverse effect on the productivity of the employers. It becomes more difficult to access people
for help and cooperation in the absence of a team environment, which may lead to delays in
receiving critical information. It complicates the situation even further if there is a high level of task
interdependence and colleagues work with sequential tasks and need to wait for each other to
complete their tasks. Being in the same home environment for a relatively long time causes
feelings of social and professional isolation and disconnectedness, which affects productivity
negatively. Video calls are reported higher levels of job satisfaction and performance than those
using messaging or e-mail and therefore increasing productivity.
As working from home greatly depends on technology and technical equipment, technical factors
can influence the productivity, too. If the employees have access to the appropriate technology,
equipment, productivity tools and technical and logistic support, their productivity increases. If
there are electrical power restrictions, disruption of the internet network and having difficulty
sending work data and information between employees, their productivity decreases.
Not all the factors have clearly positive or negative influences. Influences of some of the factors
depend on the personality of the employees and/or circumstances. The aspect of flexibility is one
of the examples. If there is no restrictions on the working hours and the employees have the
freedom to determine the time and place of work and if they have control over their schedule, it will
have a positive influence on the productivity, under the condition that the employees have selfdiscipline and self-efficacy, time management skills, ability, willingness, and inner motivation to
work remotely. If the employees lack motivation and work discipline at home and if they need
some external pressure to be structured and to establish a work rhythm, their productivity will
decrease drastically.
The aspect of work-life balance is another example of factors, influences of which depend on the
preferences of the employees and/or circumstances. As WFH gives more freedom to the
employees about their work times, they can spend more time with their families, which reduces
work-life conflicts and increases job satisfaction levels, which in turn increases their productivity.
On the other hand, the same factor can decrease their productivity, if it becomes stressful to
balance work and domestic chores with the demands from the family members and presence of
young children at home. The influences of working in a comfortable home environment depends
on the employees, too. If they perceive home only as a place to rest and if they are tempted to
spend time on non-work related issues, such as doing household chores, watching movies,
playing computer games, using their smartphones and spending time on social media, their
productivity will be low.
Source 3: Maurer, R. (2020). Remote Employees Are Working Longer Than Before. SHRM
While the shift to working from home has provided much-needed flexibility for professional workers
during the COVID-19 crisis and shown that a remote workforce can maintain productivity, negative
aspects of the experience such as isolation, diminished collaboration and burnout have emerged.
Research shows remote employees are working longer, spending time in more meetings and
having to keep up with more communication channels. Nearly 70 percent of professionals who
transitioned to remote work because of the pandemic say they now work on the weekends, and 45
percent say they regularly work more hours during the week than they did before, according to a
survey of 2,800 workers by Los Angeles-based staffing firm Robert Half. The survey also found
that working parents were more likely to work weekends and more than eight hours per day than
those without children. Men were more likely than women to report working on weekends and
putting in 40-plus hour workweeks. And more workers under the age of 40 said they usually work
weekends and more than eight hours per day than those older than 40.
“While remote work affords employees greater flexibility, it also makes disconnecting extremely
difficult,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director at Robert Half. “Many people feel pressure
to keep up with rising workloads and are putting in long hours to support the business and
customer needs.”
Renee Zung, vice president of career services at career management firm Keystone Partners in
Raleigh, N.C., was not surprised by the findings. “It is easier to unplug when you work onsite at an
office,” she said. “Leaving your office at the end of the workday creates a natural boundary, and
traveling home provides the time you need to unwind and decompress. It is hard to set up
boundaries if your office is in your bedroom or at the kitchen table. It is easy to check one more email, add more details to a presentation or return a few phone calls to colleagues.”
The lack of employee training on how to manage the boundaries between work and life in the
years before COVID-19 is an underlying problem, said Cali Williams Yost, a nationally recognized
expert on workplace flexibility and founder of the consultancy Flex+Strategy Group in New York
City. “Managing the boundaries between work and life is a skill set people need and most didn’t
have before the pandemic and still don’t,” she said. “Simply handing an employee a laptop and
downloading Zoom or some other collaborative software is not enough to help employees manage
their work and lives through the pandemic and beyond.”
Fear and uncertainty about the economy and job security also drive some of this behavior, Yost
added. “Taken together—lack of boundary-setting skills, lack of alternatives to work, and fear—
this is a perfect storm of overwork.”
Separate research supports the Robert Half findings. A July report from the National Bureau of
Economic Research (NBER) showed that the average workday lengthened by 48.5 minutes in the
weeks following stay-at-home orders and lockdowns across the U.S. in March. The number of
meetings and internal e-mail activity also increased. The economists analyzed data from more
than 21,000 companies in 16 large metropolitan areas worldwide.
The NBER study noted that the results do not necessarily mean that people are working all those
extra hours.
“It is unclear if this increase in average workday span represents a benefit or drawback to
employee well-being,” said Evan DeFilippis, a Ph.D. candidate in organizational behavior at
Harvard Business School in Boston and one of the study authors. “On one hand, the flexibility to
choose one’s working hours to accommodate household demands may empower employees by
affording them some freedom over their own schedule. On the other hand, the change in work
schedule may be a consequence of a blurred distinction between work and personal life, in which
it becomes easy to overwork.”
The consequences of overworking could be dire to workers’ health, Zung said. “Stress is a
common factor in heart attacks, depression and other health-related problems. If you are working
nonstop that means your body is working to keep you up, adding stress to your organs, especially
your brain and heart. Sitting too long at your computer can lead to carpal tunnel, back issues and
vision issues. Wearing earbuds all day long can lead to hearing loss.”
Experts agree that the trend toward a longer workday will not be sustainable, and that HR and line
managers should support flexible scheduling and encourage employees to take breaks during the
day and time off when needed. “The pandemic has pushed companies to prioritize employee
experience,” McDonald said. “Savvy employers are making lasting changes to support their staff’s
needs and well-being, such as providing greater autonomy and flexibility.”
Yost said HR and line managers need to make work/life boundary management a regular
conversation. “Set clear priorities so employees can plan their lives around them,” she said.
“Clarify expectations for accessibility and responsiveness such as during what hours e-mails or
instant message should be reviewed and responded to, or when is it best to call or text.”
Managers need to monitor the number of hours that their employees are logging and make it a
priority to encourage time off and assist in balancing employee workloads, Zung said. “Having a
weekly meeting to prioritize workloads, reassign projects, or move project end-dates will create a
better work environment and a culture that encourages employees to power down nightly and
during the weekend. Line managers need to model ‘checking out’ behaviors so their employees
believe it is acceptable to do the same.”
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