مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد نظر شرکت ها در ارتباط با مشکلات دورکاری – تیلور و فرانسیس 2022

Abstract

     Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries have recommended or imposed teleworking. This study examines the arrangements made by companies in French-speaking Switzerland to prevent or reduce the negative aspects of teleworking in order to improve the experience for their employees. To do so, semistructured interviews were conducted with human resources or team managers in companies from various industries. The literature review enabled these risks to be classified into six categories and was used to guide the interviews. The results offer interesting insights for academic researchers and practitioners. For the first, they can use these findings to investigate this issue in other geographical regions or expand by doing a quantitative study. For the second, they can use the insights to tailor their management practices when crises materialize.

Introduction

     The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2019 with the World Health Organization declaring a global health emergency (Velavan & Meyer, 2020). The virus caused tremendous harm, affecting many people and their lives, but also impacting businesses around the world. To fight against the spread of the virus, many countries restrained their populations’ movements, thus greatly increasing the number of people teleworking (Mori, 2021). Dubey and Tripathi (2020) noted that this decision was accompanied with many people showing resentment and having negative feelings toward the notion of working from home.

     Research has been conducted on teleworking’s negative effects from an employee’s point of view, but little literature can be found that interrogates companies’ views. This skews the perspective, as it is unclear how companies are viewing the situation and what actions they are taking to resolve or prevent these issues. To better understand the company side of the matter, a review of the literature was conducted and the negative effects were categorized.

Findings

     Only two participants noted that family conflicts were brought to their attention. However, Participant E noted that their company has a social service, so it is possible that managers are not aware of these issues. Societal issues (gender inequalities and promotions) were not deemed to be an issue, as no participant had received any complaints or remarks.

     Two participants noted that some employees were struggling with back pain. These issues were present before COVID-19 but were made worse by the change of setting and lack of equipment. Participant A stated, “[A]s it is at home, it is the employee’s issue, not the employer’s duty” [my translation from French]. The bank also held a similar stance. While it let employees take their work equipment (like screens) or their work chairs home, it did not finance any ergonomic equipment the employee would require.

     Employees from four out of five companies in the sample reported suffering from sentiments of isolation and loneliness due, in part, to a lack of social interactions and informal calls. Indeed, these two issues are the most prevalent as nearly all participants are unanimous on the negative sentiments their collaborators were facing. No other issue, even when considering all six categories, was highlighted as much.