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Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 June 2023) | Viewed by 25976

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Amaya Erro Garcés

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Guest Editor

Department of Business Administration, Public University of Navarre, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Interests: telework; action research; human resource practices; health

Dr. Angel Belzunegui-Eraso

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Guest Editor

Department of History and Art History, Rovira i Virgili University, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
Interests: telework; social inclusion; social exclusion; health

Prof. Dr. Maria Inmaculada Pastor-Gosálvez

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Guest Editor

Department of History and Art History, Rovira i Virgili University, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
Interests: telework; action research; human resource practices; health

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The pandemic has led to a telework boom. As a result of lockdown measures imposed in different countries, the percentage of company workers forced to work remotely grew from a measly 4.7% to around 17% in the European Union, with certain countries seeing a rise to as much as 60% in 2020 (e.g., Belgium). As a result, new regulation on remote working was approved, and many employees experienced this modality of work.

In this context, this Special Issue looks for submissions related to the effects of remote working on employees’ health and wellbeing in both the public and private sector.

There is some previous literature on the impact of telework on job satisfaction (Smith et al., 2018), stress (Weiner et al., 2014) and employees´ health (Tavares, 2017). However, most of this research was carried out before the pandemic, and as a result, there is a need to expand this area of knowledge from the pandemic and beyond.

This Special Issue aims to contribute to the previous literature about modalities of work and to the challenges related to the impact of remote working on health since the increase in the number of people working from home ever since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.

Dr. Amaya Erro Garcés
Dr. Angel Belzunegui-Eraso
Prof. Dr. Maria Inmaculada Pastor-Gosálvez
Guest Editors

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Keywords

telework
wellbeing
job satisfaction
engagement
stress

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 397 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Juggling during Lockdown: Balancing Telework and Family Life in Pandemic Times and Its Perceived Consequences for the Health and Wellbeing of Working Women

by Mariana Loezar-Hernández, Erica Briones-Vozmediano, Elena Ronda-Pérez and Laura Otero-García

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 4781; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064781 - 8 Mar 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2521

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted work-family balance due to lockdown measures. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of working mothers in Spain and the consequences of trying to balance work and family for their health and wellbeing. We conducted a qualitative study based on 18 semi-structured interviews with mothers of children under 10. Five themes were identified: (1) Telework—characteristics and challenges of a new labor scenario; (2) Survival and chaos—inability to work, look after children, and manage a household at the same time; (3) Is co-responsibility a matter of luck?—challenges when sharing housework during lockdown; (4) Breakdown of the care and social support system; and (5) decline in health of women trying to balance work and family life. Mothers who had to balance telework against family life suffered physical, mental, and social effects, such as anxiety, stress, sleep deprivation, and relationship problems. This study suggests that, in situations of crisis, gender inequality increases in the household, and women tend to shift back to traditional gendered roles. Governments and employers should be made aware of this, and public policies should be implemented to facilitate work-family reconciliation and co-responsibility within couples Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing)

18 pages, 999 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Negative Impact of Telework, Job Insecurity, and Work–Life Conflict on Employee Behaviour

by Marcela-Sefora Nemțeanu and Dan-Cristian Dabija

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4182; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054182 - 26 Feb 2023

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 5538

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a large-scale adoption of teleworking in various fields, accepted by many employers as the ideal solution to protect their employees against the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. Working from home generated substantial savings for organisations and also contributed to alleviating employee stress. In addition to the potential positive effects, telework during COVID-19 favoured counterproductive behaviour, job insecurity, and intention to retire because of the negative outcomes generated by the growing conflict between personal life and working from home and professional and social isolation. The purpose of this research is to define and analyse a conceptual model capable of highlighting the way in which telework, job insecurity, and work–life conflict led to professional isolation and turnover intention, and finally, to the counterproductive behaviour of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was implemented using employees in Romania, an emerging European economy severely affected by the recent pandemic. The results have been analysed with the help of structural equations in SmartPLS, thus reflecting a significant influence of teleworking on work–life conflict, professional isolation, intentions, and insecurity during the pandemic. The insecurity of employees trained in teleworking contributes significantly to enhancing work–life conflict and professional isolation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing)

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18 pages, 387 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Telework: A Social and Emotional Perspective of the Impact on Employees’ Wellbeing in the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Monica Aureliana Petcu, Maria Iulia Sobolevschi-David, Raluca Florentina Crețu, Stefania Cristina Curea, Anca Maria Hristea, Mihaela Diana Oancea-Negescu and Daniela Tutui

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(3), 1811; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031811 - 18 Jan 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3724

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic gives us the largest telework experiment ever conducted globally, that will most likely leave visible and lasting marks on the organization of the labor market in the future. The purpose of this approach is to investigate the wellbeing from the social and emotional perspective of the individual, considering relevant relational communication, emotional dimension, work intensity, organization, autonomy and work–life balance, customized in the context of teleworking. The information was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The wellbeing assessment was performed based on the correlation analysis and the regression analysis. The results of the studies reveal that the existence of adequate communication and work–life balance ensure the wellbeing of telework employees, while the increase in work intensity degrades it. Furthermore, good communication moderates the relationship between organizational skills and wellbeing. The comparative analysis of wellbeing in relation to the explanatory variables considered by including the gender and age perspective reveals the existence of different configurations, with specific signs and statistical meanings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing)

19 pages, 4231 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Work-From-Home in the New Normal: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Employees’ Mental Health

by Mumtaz Ali Memon, Saba Shaikh, Muhammad Zeeshan Mirza, Asfia Obaid, Nuttawuth Muenjohn and Hiram Ting

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010048 - 21 Dec 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7495

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced employees to adapt and adjust to the new normal in an unprecedented way. While some employees have been able to move to work-from-home (WFH) relatively easily, many find it challenging. Notwithstanding the magnitude of change, little is known about the determinants of WFH employees’ mental health during COVID-19. This study therefore aims to explore (1) the salient factors that contribute to the mental health issues of WFH employees and (2) strategies to overcome WFH challenges. A qualitative approach using phenomenological inquiry was adopted. Forty-one employees who worked from home in Pakistan were sampled using the purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Overall, employees believe that organizations offer inadequate support in both work-related and non-work-related matters. Five themes were elicited and coded as factors that contribute to mental health issues among WFH employees. Technical issues and system complexities, the absence of flexible working arrangements, distractions, a lack of communication, and inadequate social support were found to obstruct WFH and cause mental distress. Behavioral and cognitive coping strategies were also determined to tackle these mental issues. This study complements the human resource literature by exploring the factors that obstruct WFH and cause mental health issues in the context of the pandemic crisis. As mental well-being is more intricate than administrative arrangements, the study is useful for organizations to develop a feasible mechanism that facilitates the smooth execution of WFH for employees while ensuring their mental health is preserved. Using a phenomenological inquiry, the present study is one of the few to explore the factors that contribute to the mental health of WFH employees in the context of the pandemic crisis. Apart from its contribution to knowledge on human resource management and organizational behavior, it provides useful implications for managers, policymakers, and practitioners to manage WFH employees more effectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing)

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19 pages, 614 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Work Mode and Its Importance for Home–Work and Work–Home Relationships: The Role of Resilience, Coping with Stress, and Passion for Work

by Ewa Sygit-Kowalkowska, Andrzej Piotrowski, Ole Boe, Samir Rawat, Jelena Minic, Alexandra Predoiu, Radu Predoiu, Žermēna Vazne, Andra Fernate, Romualdas Malinauskas, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen, John Blenkinsopp and Mária Martinská

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 14491; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114491 - 4 Nov 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3601

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated and facilitated the introduction of telework in organizations. This has also impacted the workers’ relationship between work and private life. The aim of the current study was to examine the links between resilience and mode of work (stationary vs. remote) and the work–home and home–work relationships, and whether they are mediated by passion for work and strategies of coping with stress. The study was carried out on a sample of 1251 participants from Great Britain, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Vietnam. The following measures were used: The Survey Work–Home Interaction, The Brief Resilience Coping Scale, The Passion Scale, and the Brief COPE. Results showed that the more stationary the mode of work, the lower the intensity of the negative influence of personal life on work. Resilience was revealed to have a positive effect on worker functioning. The study also showed a relationship between education and gender and passion for work. Finally, the importance of furthering the knowledge on the home–work and work–home relationships among teleworkers is discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing)

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15 pages, 350 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Particularities of Telework Applicable to the Health System in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Alina Filip, Alin Stancu, Mihai Mehedințu, Adrian Streinu-Cercel and Alexandrina Maria Pauceanu

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(17), 10501; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710501 - 23 Aug 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1874

Abstract

The paper aims to highlight how physician-patient relationships have evolved amid the COVID-19 pandemic by considering telework implementation into the healthcare sector. The article presents the peculiarities of using telework within the medical system given the recent epidemiological context, by pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of its adoption. To achieve this goal, a qualitative marketing research was conducted to identify physicians’ opinions and perceptions on telework. The main objectives were identifying the ways of using telework, the effects that telework has on the quality of the medical services and on patient relationships, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of telework for the medical field. The study revealed that while face-to-face consultations decreased as the outbreak continued, different methods of remote consultations emerged, which was both beneficial in interactions with chronic patients and detrimental, as medical staff became more and more overworked. For these reasons, our research shows that healthcare professionals consider a hybrid system much more adequate for patients with stable chronic conditions, as ongoing monitoring is done through this remote mechanism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing)

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Teleworking Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects on Health and Wellbeing

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