The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Digital Transformation of Workplace: The Social Representation of Home-Office

Abstract

In March 2020, with the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic and prescribing social isolation to combat this coronavirus, companies began to implement home-office, with employees working from their homes through Information and Communication Technology. Thus, this study aims to identify how Human Resources professionals in Brazil made sense of the home-office policy adopted by their companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, given that this country was severely impacted by this disease, which led to the implementation of social isolation for several months. In consideration of this, this research applied the Social Representation Theory, operationalized via the evocation of words technique and implicative analysis. In doing so, a positive and less comprehensive view of Human Resources professionals was identified vis-à-vis the academic literature in relation to the enactment of home-office via companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be due to the time interval in which this research was carried out, the consequent impacts resulting from the implementation of the home-office at the time of data collection, and the very fact that most of the literature researched came from developed countries and not from the Global South where this research was carried out. Flexibility and Quality of Life were the dimensions most associated with the social representation of home-office according to Human Resources professionals. However, the productivity dimension related to working in a home-office showed dubious and inconclusive results. Finally, some challenging aspects related to this model of work raised by the scientific literature were not mentioned by the respondents, indicating a mismatch between the academic literature and the understanding of Human Resources professionals about the role of home-office during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Introduction

From March 2020, with the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the consequent need for social isolation as a way to combat the virus, the implementation of teleworking was started by companies in an accelerated way, with employees having to work from their homes on a home-office basis [1,2,3,4]. As the Human Resources (HR) area of organizations is usually in charge of dealing with issues related to work arrangements [5,6,7], it was up to this area to define, monitor, and evaluate home-office solutions adopted by the respective companies during the COVID-19 pandemic [8,9].

However, there is no single and consolidated understanding of the role of the home-office in a scenario of social isolation [8]. Thus, aiming to deepen the comprehension of this social phenomenon, this research used the Social Representation Theory [9] to identify how HR professionals in Brazil made sense of the home-office in the period of social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, as this theory aims to describe how an object, concept, or idea is internalized by a social group through the analysis of the verbal expressions evoked by its members [10]. Therefore, the Social Representation Theory was used to answer the following research question: “What is the social representation of home-office during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of Brazilian HR professionals?”.

There is no doubt that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionized personal and professional lives, allowing people to connect with friends and family, as well as co-workers and supervisors, anytime and from anywhere [11]. Moreover, ICT has allowed paid work to invade spaces and times normally reserved for personal life and leisure [12]. In fact, today, professionals, especially knowledge workers, can work from virtually any location and at any time, supported mainly by the Internet [13,14], in what is conventionally called teleworking [15]. This temporal and spatial independence has transformed the role of ICT in the workplace, offering both opportunities and challenges to companies and their professionals [16].

The first technology-mediated remote work initiative, also known as telecommuting, took place in the US in the 1970s, involving then-existing ICT, with the aim of avoiding the home–work–home journey and promoting some relief from oil shocks [17,18,19]. The most recent mentions of teleworking have associated its dissemination in companies with a reduction in the cost of physical space and greater flexibility for workers, thanks to the intensive use of ICT [13,20]. According to Boell et al. [13,21], teleworking changes the very nature of work, as well as the relationship of employees with their workplace, affecting their engagement and productivity. In fact, academics advocate a deeper understanding of telework since research on the topic has brought contradictory conclusions about its potential impact on companies and employees [13,20,22,23,24,25,26,27,28].

The focus of this research in Brazil is due to the fact that this country has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a large number of deaths and an alarming economic crisis caused by the imposed lockdown [29,30]. Moreover, Brazil is also a prominent emerging country, being a BRIC member and having an important role in the global food supply. Thus, in this work, Brazil was considered a proxy for emerging markets that adopted social isolation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which led companies to adopt the home-office as their standard way of working [31].

To answer the aforementioned research question, this article is structured as follows: After this introduction, the theoretical references on which the research is based are presented, followed by the methodological procedures adopted. Then, the results obtained are set forth, which are later discussed. Finally, the conclusions of the work are presented, focusing on its academic and managerial implications, as well as its limitations.

2. Theoretical Background

2.1. Teleworking

The concept of telework was initially associated with alternative work models in which workers could be in workplaces other than traditional offices—settling at home or in telework centers—for the performance of their professional activities [13,26]. Over the years, the concept of teleworking has incorporated new dimensions, such as mobility [32,33] or the very interaction between this model of work and ICT [34].

For Mahler [26] and Kim et al. [35], teleworking is a particular form of virtual organization, characterized by the temporal and physical separation of its members and providing interactions between them—synchronously or asynchronously—through ICT. Moreover, for Sullivan [36] and Thulin et al. [37], there is a certain consensus in the scientific literature that teleworking is associated with remote work made possible by ICT. Overmyer [25] conceptualized this paradigm as any work performed outside the main workplace, on a part- or full-time basis, facilitated or enabled in some way by ICT.

For a better understanding of that concept, Bailey and Kurland [22] proposed four types of teleworking according to their basic characteristics, as shown in

Table 1. Types of teleworking and their characteristics (based on [38], p. 28).

Types of Telework	Characteristics
Based at home	Work from home but not necessarily every day
	Connection with the central office through ICT
	Link with the company
	Company or employee provide furniture and equipment
	Avoid hours of daily commuting
Satellite offices	Work away from home and central office
	Host only employees from the same company
	Avoid hours of daily commuting
	Company provides furniture and equipment
	Backoffice may be available
Neighbourhood working centers	Work away from home and central office
	Host employees from several companies
	Avoid hours of daily commuting
	Owners or companies provide furniture and equipment
Mobile work	Usually on the road
	Use of ICT
	Work from home, auto, airplane, or hotel

.

Additionally, studies have been developed by the European Commission [39] and the International Labor Organization [40] to systematize teleworking typologies. These initiatives—given the range of possibilities for organizing work brought about by telework, as well as the difficulty in obtaining academic consensus on its exact definition [24,25,36]—were based on the model developed by ILO [40], as shown in Figure 1. In this model, ILO [40] highlights two poles: (A) work performed outside the company’s facilities with the support of ICT and (B) work performed at home. The intersection of these two categories (AB) represents the home-office—work carried out at home via ICT or telework from home [41,42]—a model of work widely used by companies during the COVID-19 pandemic to migrate, via ICT, work activities from the office to the home environment.

2.2. Home-Based Teleworking or Home-Office

As stated above, a commonly used expression to designate work performed at home via ICT is home-based teleworking or home-office [43]—an alternative model of work adopted by organizations and workers [27]. Thus, in the present study, the concept of home-based teleworking or home-office is adopted for work carried out at home via ICT, on a full- or part-time basis, by workers with an employment relationship with their employers.

To consolidate the theoretical framework of home-office, a literature review was conducted. Thus, articles, dissertations/theses, and consultancy reports were searched in order to identify in the scientific literature the concepts, definitions, and characteristics related to the terms: “home-office”, “teleworking”, and “home-based teleworking”. To do this, one pursued articles published in referenced journals, including works that better match the structure and discussion of the principal theme [44]. The literature review was held between October 2021 and March 2022. It was carried out in chronological order and the delimitation of the search period for articles covered the period from 2004 to 2021—considering that the subject was practically unexpressed before this period. Articles published in 2022 were not included in the count in order to have equal comparison measures, i.e., using only complete years. Notwithstanding, the articles published until October 2022 were reviewed for an overall analysis and theoretical purposes. The search aimed to cover articles published in journals associated with the theme in the Web of Science database, as well as in the most important management journals. The journals investigated were essentially in English, all of them with a double-blind review process. Books, technical reports, and others were excluded.

After doing that, a table was developed with 21 characteristics associated with the home-office concept. Thus,

Table 2. Consolidation of home-office features (adapted from [38], p. 34).

Home-Office Features	Theoretical References
	[24]	[22]	[25]	[45]	[26]	[46]	[13,21]	[47]	[48,49]	[50]	[51]	[52]	[53]
Cost reduction	₀	₀		₀	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀		₀
Autonomy/Flexibility	₀	₀		₀		₀	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀
Equilibrium family/work	₀	₀		₀	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀		₀		₀
Productivity	₀	₀		₀	₀		₀	₀		₀	₀	₀	₀
Leadership role	₀	₀	₀	₀		₀	₀		₀		₀	₀
Personal and professional isolation	₀	₀	₀	₀				₀	₀	₀	₀		₀
Interaction/Communication	₀		₀			₀	₀	₀		₀	₀	₀	₀
Impacts on the organizational culture/motivation/commitment	₀	₀			₀		₀		₀	₀	₀	₀	₀
Visibility/development/career opportunities	₀	₀	₀	₀				₀	₀		₀		₀
Infrastructure and technology		₀	₀		₀	₀	₀			₀	₀	₀
Commute time	₀	₀		₀	₀				₀	₀	₀		₀
Accessibility	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀	₀
Well-being of the worker	₀	₀								₀	₀	₀	₀
Job satisfaction and performance	₀	₀		₀	₀		₀						₀
Level of distraction/interaction		₀		₀			₀	₀			₀
Working hours	₀	₀		₀				₀			₀
Physical environment				₀		₀			₀		₀
Greater stress/exhaustion				₀	₀				₀		₀
Professional identity				₀					₀	₀
Safety							₀			₀
Knowledge sharing								₀			₀

identifies the characteristics associated with home-office via author/publication, with a totalizer in the last column indicating the characteristics with the highest number of records. At the end of this work, this consolidated theoretical framework is compared to the social representation of home-office obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic according to HR professionals.

2.3. Social Representation Theory

The Social Representation Theory (SRT) was born from the work of Serge Moscovici: “La Psychanalyse: son image et son public” [9], being a descendant of the traditional French sociological school [54] and configuring, today, as one of the main theories of Social Psychology [55]. SRT brings an innovative approach to integrating individual, collective, and social phenomena [56]. It seeks to understand how common sense is formed in different human groups [10], reinforcing their identities, influencing their practices, and reconstituting their thoughts [55].

Jodelet [57] defines social representation as the result of person–object interactions with the context in order to promote a form of socially elaborated and shared knowledge, focused on the collective understanding of a given reality by a social group.

Compared to other theories of Social Psychology, SRT offers a broad spectrum for describing social phenomena more precisely, as it is anchored in the contrasts between various types of social relationships, rather than those existing between the social and individual elements [58]. Joia and Marchisotti [56] argue that the perception of reality revealed by SRT in general resides in how individuals map the way they interact with the object that is being socially represented.

Joia [10] highlights that the literature on social representation initially focused on human beings and their relationships with society, as it is a theory derived from Psychoanalysis. Over time, however, its application began to occur in non-human artifacts as well. Jodelet [57] reinforces this understanding: “Actually, representing oneself or being represented corresponds to an act of thought by which a subject relates to an object. It can be a person, a thing, a material, a psychic or social event, a natural phenomenon, an idea, a theory, etc.; it can be real, imaginary or mythical, but an object is always required. There is no representation without an object” [57], p. 5.

For the proper operationalization of the SRT, Abric [59] formulated the Central Nucleus Theory as explained below.

2.4. Central Nucleus Theory

One of the greatest contributions to the development, operationalization, and consequent diffusion of the SRT is due to Jean-Claude Abric, who, in 1976, proposed the Central Nucleus Theory [59]. This theory states that there is an internal hierarchy between the elements of a social representation when organized around a central nucleus [59,60,61]. The author explains the relationship between the elements of a social representation through a double system, which allows social representation to be, at the same time, stable and mobile as well as rigid and flexible [60,61].

That system is composed of a first component called the central nucleus. The central nucleus is an essential element of a social representation, its collectively shared common ground. Its determination considers the historical, sociological, and ideological aspects associated with the concept under analysis. It defines the homogeneity of the group, through individualized behaviors, playing a critical role in the stability and coherence of a social representation, thus guaranteeing its perpetuity and conservation over time [60,61,62]. Abric [59,60] also points out two essential functions of the central nucleus. The first is the generative function—as it is through it that a representation is created or transformed. The other, the organizing function, determines the nature of the links between the elements of a social representation. Mazzotti [62] incorporates another function into the central nucleus, reclassifying what Abric [60] understands as a property—the stabilizing function—since this is the most stable element of a social representation, thus allowing its perpetuity in evolutionary contexts.

A second important component of that system, in addition to the central nucleus, is the so-called peripheral system. Its function is to accommodate eventual contradictions associated with the more immediate context and to circumvent the heterogeneity of the group, sheltering the different perceptions of the individuals who integrate it. Its elements are around the central nucleus, housing the most negotiable or changeable elements of a social representation, without changing the meaning of the central nucleus [10,55]. The peripheral system also has three functions [60]: (i) to make the central nucleus concrete through expressions anchored in reality, which allows its immediate understanding and transmission; (ii) to adapt a social representation to the evolution of the context; and (iii) to prevent the de-characterization of a social representation when the central nucleus is changed by incorporating new information that would put some at risk [60,62]. According to Mazzotti [62], a transformation in the central nucleus can lead to a new social representation since the central nucleus comprises elements of fundamental importance for a social representation [56].

Mazzotti [62] traces the differences between the central nucleus and the peripheral system, as shown in

Table 3. Differences between the central nucleus and peripheral system in the Vergès’ Quadrant (adapted from [38], p. 39).

Central Nucleus Features	Peripheral System Features
Linked to the collective memory and the history of the group	Enables the integration of individual experiences and stories
Consensual: defines the homogeneity of the group	Supports group heterogeneity
Stable, coherent, and rigid	Flexible and supports contradictons
Resistant to change	Transformable
Little sensitivity to the immediate context	Sensitive to the immediate context
Generates the meaning of the representation and	Allows adaptation to the reality and the differentiation of the content; protects the
determines its organization	central nucleus

.

The main technique used to map the central nucleus of a social representation is the free evocation of words, through which people list the main words or expressions that come to their minds, as spontaneously as possible, when presented to a concept [63]. In order to ascribe identity and meaning to the central nucleus, the most frequently evoked words/expressions that come to the minds of the respondents most quickly are considered the most important for understanding the concept studied, becoming part of the central nucleus [63].

Both the central nucleus and the peripheral system are represented via the Vergès’ Quadrant—a graphic model that establishes four quadrants that allow the interpretation and analysis of a social representation [64,65]. The construction of the Vergès’ Quadrant occurs through the calculation of two variables: the average order of evocation and the evocation frequency of each category associated with the evoked words/expressions. To position each evoked category in the four houses of the quadrant, these measures are compared with their respective averages—that is, the average order of evocation (AOE) and the mean value of the average frequency of evocation (AFE) [10]. Figure 2 presents the Vergès’ Quadrant, as well as the parameters required for its construction.

Joia [10] explains that the calculation of the average order of evocation (AOE) of each category is performed using the following formula:

$$\mathrm{AOE}=\frac{ \left(\mathrm{f}1\times 1\right)+\left(\mathrm{f}2\times 2\right)+\left(\mathrm{f}3\times 3\right)+\left(\mathrm{f}4\times 4\right)+\left(\mathrm{f}5\times 5\right) }{\mathsf{\Sigma }\mathrm{f}}$$

where f1 represents the evocation frequency of the category in first place, f2 indicates the same for the second-place category, and so on. The denominator of the formula represents the sum of f (f1 + f2 + f3 + f4 + f5), describing the number of times the words/expressions of this category were evoked. Moreover, the average frequency of evocation (AFE) is calculated by dividing the sum of all words/expressions in a given category by the number of categories [10]. The combination of these referential measures indicates the positioning of the categories in the quadrants, allowing the identification of the constitutive elements of a social representation.

Below, one depicts a graphic representation of the Vergès’ Quadrant (Figure 3), as well as a description of the characteristics of each of its four quadrants, namely, the central nucleus, peripheral system, contrast zone, and first periphery [65,66].

3. Methodological Procedures

As already said, this work aims to identify via Social Representation Theory how HR professionals in Brazil made sense of home-office in the period of social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study uses a qualitative–quantitative methodological approach to investigate the perceptions shared by a specific social group (HR professionals) about the home-office phenomenon adopted by their companies during the COVID-19 pandemic [67,68,69].

To this end, a sample was selected, in a non-probabilistic way and for convenience, to evoke words associated with the expression home-office, which was made up of HR professionals belonging to the researchers’ network of contacts [69]. The selected HR professionals were contacted between March and April 2021 through social media, such as LinkedIn and WhatsApp. A questionnaire was sent to them in order to collect their demographic data and perceptions about the investigated topic. As stated, the choice of HR professionals was based on the fact that this group is responsible for proposing and implementing personnel management policies and solutions in organizations [5,6,7,8]. The questionnaire was divided into two parts, totaling 13 questions, structured as follows: (i) five questions about the home-office concept; (ii) eight questions addressing the profile of the respondents.

Open and closed questions were presented to the respondents. The open questions were used to collect the five evocations that came to their minds, as well as the reason for choosing the first evocation, their current position, and respective e-mail, with the last three questions being optional. The closed-ended questions were used to collect the sample demographics.

For data analysis, the evocations were classified into categories and positioned in the Vergès’ Quadrant, which crosses the evocation frequency with the respective evocation order of the words/expressions evoked, thus allowing the analysis of the social representation of a given social object [65]. Furthermore, to confirm the Vergès’ Quadrant found, a similitude analysis was performed [70].

A similitude analysis (SA) is based on graph theory, allowing the identification of co-occurrences and connections between the evoked words [71,72]. Thus, SA can be considered a complement to Vergès’ Quadrant technique, as it seeks to organize and confirm the structure and elements of the social representation found [73]. The SA and its corresponding graphic representation, called maximum tree, were developed using IRAMUTEQ software (v0.7 alpha 2) [74]. The maximum tree synthesizes the set of connections between the constituent elements of the social representation [75], thus enabling the confirmation of the central nucleus, the peripheral system, and the two other quadrants generated [76].

Finally, the results obtained were analyzed vis-à-vis the theoretical framework raised in order to identify and discuss gaps and confluences between them [77].

4. Results

4.1. Sample

About 800 HR professionals were contacted between March and April 2021 through social media (WhatsApp and LinkedIn), with a return of 148 respondents (19% of the total). Of these 148 responses, 26 were incomplete or blank and, therefore, were discarded. In addition, of the remaining 122 respondents, 16 stated that they did not work in HR (negative answer to the question “Do you work in the Human Resources area?”), which led to the discarding of their answers, thus leaving 106 answers for the final analysis. To produce a social representation, a sample of more than 100 respondents is considered sufficient due to its scientific consistency [78,79], with this being the case in this research.

Table 4. Summary of the sample.

Sample Summary
148 participants
106 valid answers
530 words/expressions evoked
9 differente states—93.4% from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states
Average age—41 years old
70% Female and 30% Male
89% with Post-Graduation, Master or Doctoral degree
94% involved with Home-Office Implementation Initiatives

consolidates the main characteristics of the sample.

4.2. Vergès’ Quadrant

As mentioned earlier, the social representation of the home-office is established through the categorization of the collected evocations and the respective location of the same in the Vergès’ Quadrant. For this, one used the 530 words/expressions evoked by 106 Brazilian HR professionals when faced with the following question: “When you think of a home-office, what are the first five (5) words or expressions that immediately come to your mind?”

The evocations obtained were then consolidated into semantic categories of the same meaning [80,81]. In addition, three other steps must be taken to reach the Vergès’ Quadrant and identify the central nucleus and peripheral system of a social representation—(i) definition of the minimum frequency of evocation of words so that they can belong to the Vergès’ Quadrant, (ii) calculation of the average frequency of evocation of the categories (AFE), and (iii) calculation of the mean value of the average order of evocation of the categories (AOE) [63].

One identified 58 semantic categories (

Table 5. Summary of the evocation frequencies.

Frequency of Evocation	No. of Categories	Accumulated Evocations (%)	Reverse Accumulation (%)
1	14	2.64	100.00
2	3	3.77	97.36
3	9	8.85	96.23
4	6	13.37	91.15
5	2	15.25	86.63
6	4	19.77	84.75
7	1	21.09	80.23
8	2	24.11	78.91
10	3	29.76	75.89
11	3	35.97	70.24
14	1	38.61	64.03
15	1	41.43	61.39
17	1	44.63	58.57
18	2	51.41	55.37
21	1	55.37	48.59
22	1	59.51	44.63
27	1	64.60	40.49
28	1	69.87	35.40
33	1	76.08	30.13
34	1	82.49	23.92
40	1	90.02	17.51
53	1	100.00	9.98

), checking which of them would be positioned in the Vergès’ Quadrant. For this, the minimum value for the evocation frequency was calculated. Although there is no consensus in the academic literature on how to calculate this value [82], several authors associate it with around 50% of the accumulation of evocations [61,83,84]. Thus, the cutoff point adopted to define the minimum evocation frequency was 55.37%. As a result, only words/expressions that were evoked at least 18 times were considered for the construction of the Vergès’ Quadrant (Table 5). That is to say, of the 58 semantic categories identified, only 10 (17.2% of the total) met this requirement and could, therefore, be part of the home-office social representation.

To make possible the construction of the Vergès’ Quadrant and define the boundaries of the central nucleus, peripheral system, first periphery, and contrast zone (see Figure 3), Wachelke and Wolter [82] and Sarubbi Jr. [83] indicate the need to find the median of evocation frequencies, considering that it is a non-uniform or symmetrical distribution of evocations. In this study, the average frequency of evocation (AFE) corresponds to 28, considering only the ten categories that, effectively, can be part of the Vergès’ Quadrant (the last nine lines in Table 5).

Finally, a last condition for the construction of the Vergès’ Quadrant is the calculation of the mean value of the average order of evocations (AOEs), obtained by the weighted average of the average orders of evocation for each evoked category that, fulfilling the previous requirements, can be part of the Vergès’ Quadrant. Thus, the first step is to find the average order of evocation of each category selected to compose the Vergès’ Quadrant [80] by using the formula below:

$$\frac{\mathrm{AOE}=\left(\mathrm{f} 1\mathrm{st}. \mathrm{place} \times 1\right)+\left(\mathrm{f} 2\mathrm{nd}. \mathrm{place} \times 2\right)+\left(\mathrm{f} 3\mathrm{rd}.\mathrm{place} \times 3\right)+\left(\mathrm{f} 4\mathrm{th}. \mathrm{place} \times 4\right)+\left(\mathrm{f} 5\mathrm{th}.\mathrm{place}\times 5\right)}{\mathsf{\Sigma }\mathrm{f}}$$

The result of the AOE calculation for each of the ten component categories of the Vergès’ Quadrant is presented in

Table 6. Average order of evocation (AOE) of the categories of the Vergès’ Quadrant.

Subcategories	Freq	1st.	2nd.	3rd.	4th.	5th.	AOE
Flexibility	50	25	14	6	7	2	2.02
Quality of life	40	10	11	8	5	6	2.65
Comfort and Well-being	34	9	3	7	7	8	3.06
Productivity	33	9	10	4	4	6	2.64
Time	28	4	2	10	9	3	3.18
Remote work	24	14	4	2	2	2	1.92
Family	22	1	5	4	5	7	3.55
Technology	21	0	3	7	7	4	3.57
Home	18	7	8	1	1	1	1.94
Freedom	18	3	4	7	3	1	2.72

.

Thus, the mean value of the AOE is 2.72, thus obtaining the three basic parameters for the construction of the Vergès’ Quadrant, namely, (i) the minimum frequency of evocation of words/expressions (18); (ii) the average frequency of the evocation of these words/expressions (28); and (iii) the mean value of the average order of evocation (2.72). A summary of these parameters can be found in

Table 7. Parameters for the construction of the Vergès’ Quadrant.

Parameter	Value
Minimum frequency of evocation	18
Average frequency of evocation	28
Median value of AOE	2.72

below.

Finally, it was possible to build the Vergès’ Quadrant for the social representation of the home-office during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of HR professionals (Figure 4).

According to Pereira [70], the confirmation of the central nucleus and peripheral system of a social representation is necessary, and for this purpose, it is recommended to carry out an implicative analysis, also called similarity analysis (SA), as shown below.

4.3. Implicative Analysis

Aiming at a better understanding and the confirmation of the constitutive elements of the central nucleus of the social representation of home-office, a tree of maximum similarity was created for the ten categories comprising the Vergès’ Quadrant, which is in line with what was suggested by Pereira [70]. For this, Iramuteq software was used, with the results shown in Figure 5.

Thus, the categories Flexibility and Quality of Life are confirmed as the most relevant ones in the social representation of home-office since, in addition to appearing in the Vergès’ Quadrant and maximum tree of similarity, these categories also have the highest number of edges and co-occurrences (

Table 8. Relevance and connectivity of the categories associated with the social representation of home-office.

Categories	Edges	Co-Occurences	Avg. [Co-Occurrences/Edges]	Frequencies	AOE
Flexibility	5	59	11.8	54	2.02
Quality of life	4	52	13.0	40	2.65
Comfort and Well-being	1	13	13.0	34	3.06
Productivity	1	16	16.0	33	2.64
Time	2	22	11.0	28	3.18
Remote work	1	6	6.0	24	1.92
Family	1	11	11.0	22	3.55
Technology	1	10	10.0	21	3.57
Home	1	10	10.0	18	1.94
Freedom	1	7	7.0	18	2.72

).

Then, Comfort and Well-being and Productivity follow, with a high average of co-occurrences per edge, presenting, however, only one edge, thus denoting low significance for people. Comfort and Well-being has a high AOE, which confirms its position in the first periphery of the Vergès’ Quadrant associated with the social representation of home-office. However, Productivity, which figures in the central nucleus of the Vergès’ Quadrant, does not present relevant connections to remain in the central nucleus of the social representation of home-office, thus being moved to the first periphery of the Vergès’ Quadrant.

Moreover, although Time appears with two edges, the category has a lower average of co-occurrence per edge than the previous terms and a high AOE, which reinforces its position in the first periphery of the Vergès’ Quadrant.

Furthermore, Family, Technology, and Freedom—all located in the peripheral system of the Vergès’ Quadrant—present an analogous configuration in the maximum tree of similarity. With lower co-occurrences and edges and higher AOE, these categories had their positionings confirmed in the Vergès’ Quadrant.

Finally, Remote Work and Home, components of the contrast zone of the Vergès’ Quadrant, confirm their positions, as they have a low AOE in addition to a limited number of edges and co-occurrences.

Therefore, the only change in the Vergès’ Quadrant indicated by the implicative or similarity analysis (SA) is the displacement of the Productivity category from the central nucleus to the first periphery of the social representation. Figure 6, thus, presents the final social representation of home-office during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of HR professionals.

5. Discussion

The two central categories of the social representation of home-office are Flexibility and Quality of Life. These categories, as suggested by Joia and Correia [77], will now be compared to the theoretical framework raised. Additionally, Productivity, which was initially in the central nucleus of the Vergès’ Quadrant and, after the SA, moved to the first periphery, will also be investigated in this section. Consequently,

Table 9. Social representation of home-office according to HR professionals vs. the academic literature on home-office.

Category Associated with Home-Office	Theoretical References	Occurrence of the Category in the Analysis
Flexibility	Madsen [24]; Bailey & Kurland [22]; Wheatley [45]; Nakrošienė et al. [46]; Boell et al. [13,21]; Lippe & Lippényi [47]; Tietze [48,49]; Pérez et al. [50]; Harris [51]; Meroño-Cerdán [52]	Central Nucleus; SA
Quality of life	Madsen [24]; Bailey & Kurland [22]; Overmyer [25]; Wheatley [45]; Mahler [26]; Nakrošienė et al. [46]; Boell et al. [13,21]; Lippe & Lippényi [47]; Tietze [48,49]; Pérez et al. [50]; Harris [51]; Meroño-Cerdán [52]; Malik et al. [53]	Central Nucleus; SA
Family	Madsen [24]; Bailey & Kurland [22]; Wheatley [45]; Mahler [26]; Nakrošienė et al. [46]; Boell et al. [13,21]; Lippe & Lippényi [47]; Tietze [48,49]; Harris [51]; Malik et al. [53]	Peripheral System; SA
Technology	Bailey & Kurland [22]; Overmyer [25]; Mahler [26]; Nakrošienė et al. [46]; Boell et al. [21]; Pérez et al. [50]; Harris [51]; Meroño-Cerdán [52]	Peripheral System; SA
Freedom	Bailey & Kurland [22]; Nakrošienė et al. [46]; Boell et al. [13,21]; Harris [51]; Malik et al. [53]; Pyöriä [18]	Peripheral System; SA
Productivity	Madsen [24]; Bailey & Kurland [22]; Wheatley [45]; Mahler [26]; Nakrošienė et al. [46]; Boell et al. [13,21]; Lippe & Lippényi [47]; Tietze [48,49]; Pérez et al. [50]; Harris [51]; Meroño-Cerdán [52]; Malik et al. [53]	First Periphery; SA

compares the theoretical framework with the categories positioned in the Vergès’ Quadrant.

The Flexibility category has the highest frequency of evocations, one of the lowest AOEs, and the highest number of co-occurrences and edges, being considered, therefore, one of the pillars of the social representation of home-office. To Boell et al. [13], flexibility can be an inducer of productivity and job satisfaction by enabling better management of when, where, and how to work. In addition, flexibility can be seen as an intrinsic part of what is conventionally called teleworking or home-based teleworking [24], although all potential flexibility of this work model cannot always be captured by the workers.

There are authors who understand that flexibility is support for some of the main benefits arising from carrying out work from the home environment through the possibility of working during the most productive periods, working from home in case of illness, or even caring for family members [46]. In addition, flexibility is one of the biggest benefits captured by companies during the pandemic as it allows professionals to carry out most of their activities remotely and through ICT.

The second most relevant category to social representation is Quality of Life, with a direct link to Flexibility and Productivity, as shown in the maximum tree of similarity. Wheatley [45] argues that the flexibility brought via home-office is connected to the perception of quality of life. It should be noted, however, that this perception is quite different between men and women who work from home. This view is reinforced by Nakrošienė et al. [46], who understand that the benefits arising from the home-office are perceived mainly by male professionals to the detriment of females and older professionals. Lippe and Lippényi [47] also present a critical view in this regard, even though they understand that home-office can provide a better quality of life for professionals. However, they argue that—if very frequent, for a long period of time, and/or without direct supervision—workers can experience a drop in their performance, which, consequently, can affect the company’s productivity. Thus, despite raising some criticism, the centrality of the term Quality of Life in social representation is confirmed by its positioning in the Vergès’ Quadrant and in the maximum tree of similarity, with a high frequency of evocation, low AOE, and high connectivity with other terms.

On the other hand, although Productivity initially appeared in the central nucleus of the Vergès’ Quadrant, this position was not confirmed after the SA. However, this category was often mentioned in the open-ended responses. Through them, the interviewees indicated, in general, an increase in productivity at work resulting from better time management—in some cases associated with the absence of urban commuting—in addition to cost reduction and various savings.

In the scientific literature, Productivity is one of the most relevant positive points associated with the introduction of home-office in companies [46,47,48,49], being also a topic that is (or should be) in the minds of managers during the implementation of the practice of home-office to influence the performance of employees [47]. O’Brien and Aliabadi [80] and Guerin [81] argue that most of the increase in productivity generated via the introduction of home-office comes from the reduction in environmental costs for society. Perez et al. [50] and Yu et al. [82], on the other hand, relate Productivity to the reduction in fixed costs and the increase in organizational flexibility. Criscuolo et al. [83] also point out that one of the benefits of adopting teleworking is the possibility for the company to pursue diversity in the team, thus increasing business productivity. Furthermore, recent research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that there is a strong correlation between adopting home-office and increasing employee productivity [84]. However, this was only detected in professionals with a more proactive attitude toward long-term challenges [85], as well as those with milder concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic [86]. Thus, in general, there is still a lot of controversy in the scientific literature about the real impact of home-office adoption on business productivity, with authors highlighting both positive points and drawbacks derived from its application [87]. This may be the very reason for the change in this category from the central nucleus to the first periphery of the social representation of home-office.

Furthermore, despite the high frequency of mentions of this category, one assumes that the surveyed public did not feel comfortable talking openly about this topic. On the one hand, it addresses how organizational productivity—and even personal productivity—has been impacted during the pandemic period. On the other hand, it is due to the pressure for employees to maintain a high degree of productivity and delivery, even after the implementation of home-office in their companies.

Thus, no consensus was reached on whether and how individual or organizational productivity was impacted by the implementation of home-office. It can be assumed, once again, that, as it is a sensitive topic, there was some degree of embarrassment on the part of the respondents to mention that productivity, whether individual or organizational, may have been reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the introduction of a home-office policy in companies.

Home-Office: Theory vs. Social Representation

In the previous sections, the main categories of the social representation of home-office are discussed. Relevant categories extracted from the scientific literature are now presented, which, however, had no appreciable mention in the evocation of words undertaken in this research.

The first relevant category found in the scientific literature and not detected in the evocations concerns Career and Development. Most people feel some desire for greater managerial monitoring of their working hours [51,52,88] so that they do not become “invisible” in the company [22,89] and, consequently, may suffer disadvantages in their professional careers [53,90]. However, the adoption of a prolonged state of social isolation through the implementation of home-office for large groups of workers can mitigate issues related to “professional invisibility” since there are no colleagues in a more privileged situation than others.

The second category of relevance in the scientific literature is Social Interaction, considered one of the main negative aspects of the home-office, as it is associated with low performance at work, a decline in knowledge sharing, and a lack of self-discipline and motivation [47,51]. Interestingly, this category was not perceived as relevant by the respondents.

The third category addressed by the academic literature on home-office concerns Workload, generally considered higher when conducted outside the office. Indeed, there are studies that indicate more working hours for home-office workers, given the difficulty that the hours worked and the intensity of work are visible to managers [45,91,92]. Pyöriä [18] and Nakrošienė et al. [46] argue that this is one of the highly negative issues of home-office, as it directly influences working conditions and the outcomes obtained. However, an explanation for the omission of this category may be the fact that the launch of the questionnaires in this research took place when the COVID-19 pandemic was still infecting many people and claiming lives in Brazil. In this scenario, it is possible to imagine that, for the interviewees (and for the population in general), the public health issues associated with the pandemic were more relevant than the exhaustion associated with long working hours from home [29]. In other words, the benefits of working from home, avoiding contact and possible contagion with the COVID-19 virus, seem to have been more relevant than the excess of work associated with the home-office model of work.

6. Conclusions

Based on the results obtained, one can conclude that the social representation of home-office obtained was less comprehensive than the scientific literature on the subject. This may be due to the time interval during which this research was carried out and the consequent impacts arising from the implementation of home-office in professional activities when data were collected.

It is also observed that the “new normal”—widely discussed by specialists [93]—occupies a peripheral importance for the interviewees. In fact, the topic was not the subject of evocations by HR professionals, leading to the belief that this “new normal”—considering the view of the public at the time of the research—may be quite similar to the “old normal” in the work environments of Brazilians organizations. It is true that the “new normal” may not have been clearly perceived by HR professionals at the time of this research due to the excessive pressure imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have led them to disconnect from the world of work dynamics and the discussions that took place on this subject at the highest levels of organizations.

In general, the perception of Brazilian HR professionals about home-office during the COVID-19 pandemic is quite positive. This understanding is reinforced by the very fact that there are no relevant mentions of the home-office challenges presented by the scientific literature, such as certain invisibility of careers, decreases in productivity, fewer social interactions, and greater workloads [94].

6.1. Research Implications

Regarding academic implications, this research identified some level of dissonance between the scientific literature on home-office and the perception of Brazilian HR professionals on the same. The main feature of this disconnection is a positive view of these professionals regarding the implementation of home-office during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is to the detriment of the challenging aspects raised by the scientific literature on the subject [94].

Another academic contribution of this research is the demonstration of the ambiguous role of the implementation of the home-office in companies in the productivity of their collaborators, a fact perceived both in the social representation found and in the scientific production on the subject [95].

In addition, one realizes that most of the literature on the impact of adopting home-office policies in organizations was developed for the context of developed countries, which may explain the differences found between the academic literature on home-office and the social representation of the same according to HR professionals from the Global South. Consequently, more research is needed on the impact of home-office adoption policies on organizations operating in emerging markets and/or developing countries.

Regarding managerial issues, the first implication of this study is to allow HR managers of Brazilian companies to discuss a topic in vogue in companies in times of pandemic—ICT-mediated remote work—based not only on the academic view but also on the perceptions of HR professionals. In this sense, considering that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a new reality on the organizational world—based on remote work—it is necessary to properly understand the concept of home-office from the point of view of HR professionals in order to develop and apply guidelines and effective solutions for the work routine.

In line with this, another managerial contribution of this work is the presentation of Brazilian executives with the benefits of using home-office as a means of maintaining the level of business activity. In this sense, considering the new organizational reality imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research encourages both managers and HR professionals to take a critical glance at issues related to productivity associated with the implementation of home-office policies in their organizations. In fact, the research highlighted, as a relevant managerial contribution, the very need to better understand and measure the productivity of employees in ICT-mediated remote work, as existing knowledge, especially the productivity indicators used by companies, were largely designed for face-to-face work.

Furthermore, organizations must, when returning to in-person work, increase flexibility for their employees and provide them with a better quality of life, as these two dimensions were intensely perceived and valued in remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, the research makes it possible that, in the face of a new pandemic, HR managers can take advantage of this study to seek appropriate solutions for an emergency scenario, such as that experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

6.2. Research Limitations

This research, like others, has some limitations, as described below.

Even following the procedures and guidelines indicated in the scientific literature, it is possible that the categorization of the evoked words has incurred a certain degree of subjectivity, which may have brought some bias, albeit unconsciously, to this work. To mitigate this risk, an implicative analysis was performed as an alternative methodological tool to validate the social representation in question.

A second limitation of the research refers to the fact that the sample—defined by accessibility and not in a probabilistic way—covers mostly respondents acting at the tactical level of HR—that is, responsible for proposing and implementing personnel policies—rather than respondents at the C-level—responsible for HR strategic decisions in organizations. In addition, the work did not analyze how ordinary employees (outside the HR area) made sense of the home-office policy implemented in their organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, as the work was developed during the social isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not possible to focus the research on empirical evidence and in-depth interviews with HR professionals to better understand the real situation. In fact, the analysis developed was based only on the expressions evoked by HR professionals since very few of them explained the reasons for choosing their first evocations (as optionally requested). Because of this, it was not possible to triangulate the results obtained with the content analysis of the interviewees’ statements.

Furthermore, it is necessary to stress that as this research was developed during one of the peaks of the COVID-19 pandemic, a cognitive bias on the part of the respondents cannot be ignored, as they were not experiencing normal times, which may have impacted their emotions and influenced their responses. Consequently, this research could be replicated after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an ex post facto approach, so that the results obtained in both research could be compared and discussed.

In addition, as detailed in the introduction, the Brazilian context was used as a proxy for other emerging economies regarding the implementation of home-office initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, although there are many similarities between the contexts of these countries, one cannot guarantee that the social representation of home-office in Brazil during this pandemic and according to HR professionals would be exactly the same as that found in other emerging economies in the same period.

All in all, it is expected that this work has brought to light the perception of HR professionals about home-office policies adopted by companies during the COVID-19 pandemic so that lessons can be learned not only for possible new pandemics but also for the institutionalization in organizations of an alternative way of working based on the use of ICT.