Remote working and employee engagement

 

The Covid-19 pandemic is unlike anything we have ever experienced in recent times. Compared to a few months ago, the world has changed, the pandemic has disturbed the business environment and aided in the development of new company models, flexible working methods, and exponential technology (P M and John, 2020). Further, many people have lost their employment and income sources, and others, especially in industrialized economies, have been furloughed or forced to rely on government assistance. Due to a lack of feedback from their employers, employees who were forced to work remotely were prone to experience pressure on their performances. A 2019 study on remote tech workers revealed that 82% of them felt burned out, 52% worked more hours than usual, and 40% felt they had to give more than their coworkers in offices (Oliver, 2021).

Remote work is a notion that enables employees to do their work outside of the typical office setting without having to commute or go to the organization's location, Employee engagement can be understood as a commitment on the part of an employee or employees to the organization to be successful (Ashwini Anand and N. Acharya, 2021)

Figure  1: Survey Results: Remote Work Post Covid-19

Source : (VROOM Digital, 2020)

 

According to the above survey, ‌A staggering 95% of these employees were able to work remotely with COVID-19 restrictions, Many employees who had never contemplated working remotely did so as a result of this change in environment (VROOM Digital, 2020).

Every company had to face a remote working system. The writer was in customer service (non-voice team) in the largest telecommunication network organization in Sri Lanka.. When the first lockdown with the covid 19 pandemic situation and the organization's employees had to adjust to the working-from-home concept. The benefits of remote working can be just as advantageous for the employer as the employee. This was a new experience for the staff and this was a profit for the company as management could save costs on transport, electricity, building rent and all. Beyond profit margins and higher quality, more efficient work opportunities could be able to keep organizations’ employees.

Further, employees were happy to work from home as employees had a comfortable environment and employees can stay as they wish when they doing their work. Initially, this was a challenge for all employees, and then adapted to it. But After seeing the drop in employee performance organization realized the importance of engagement, and as a result, there were one-to-one sessions with employees, and employee surveys were done. Through the data collected, the business became aware of the problems faced by the workforce and began to address them. The employee feels more involved with the organization as a result of the virtual connectivity sessions, and non-voice performance is currently up to par.

In conclusion, even though the idea of remote work is not very novel, it is becoming more and more popular. Working remotely can have both advantages and disadvantages. However, given that it is the best alternative, a solution to these issues must be found.

 

  

Reference list

 

Ashwini Anand, A. and N. Acharya, S. (2021). Employee Engagement in A Remote Working Scenario. International Research Journal of Business Studies, 14(2), pp.119–127. doi:10.21632/irjbs.14.2.119-127.

‌

P M, N. and John, A. (2020). Organisational engagement during Remote work -HR perspectives. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346941174_Organisational_engagement_during_Remote_work_-HR_perspectives [Accessed 12 Nov. 2022].

 

Oliver, J. (2021). How Remote Work is Shaking Up the U.S. Workforce: Research on the Recent Shift to Remote Work. [online] University of Arkansas, F ersity of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Available at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1062&context=finnuht [Accessed 12 Nov. 2022].

 

VROOM Digital. (2020). Survey Results: Remote Work Post Covid-19. [online] Available at: https://www.vroomdigital.ie/blog/how-covid-has-changed-employee-attitudes-toward-remote-work/.