Search Results (80)

It is a serious challenge for humanity to find an appropriate response to stop the accelerating rise in global temperature caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions. After a methodological review of the literature, online and in-person modelling of education, work, and conferences, and relying on the results of life-cycle studies, we sought the answer to what reasonable solutions are available for decarbonization and energy reduction. During the research, the organizational carbon footprint of a selected office, educational institution and conference, and then the carbon footprint created by a person in 1 h, were examined. The two-day online education significantly reduced the daily commute load in transport by 402 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year. Still, the energy demand of home learning subtracts 136 tons from this, so the real benefit was 266 tons above in an institution educating nearly 3500 students. In a workplace of 180 people, where 52% of employees commute, 90% teleworking saved 222 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in one month, taking into account the carbon footprint of working from home. In the case of conferences, the online solution reduces the carbon footprint due to the absence of travel and catering. Comparing the three areas, for the in-person case, the conference’s carbon footprint per person per hour was the highest (11.91 kg CO₂ eq.). This value for education was 1.15 kg CO₂ eq.; for work, it was the lowest with a value of 0.90 kg CO₂ eq. Moving to an online space resulted in the most significant savings for the conference (11.55 kg CO₂ eq.), followed by working (0.54 kg CO₂ eq.), and minor savings were achieved in hybrid education (0.13 kg CO₂ eq.). The sensitivity analysis highlighted the impact of transport on carbon footprint in all three cases. However, the life cycle cost analysis showed that moving to a virtual space reduces the life cycle cost of de-carbonization by 42%. Full article

In this study, we investigate whether differences in sociodemographic and housing characteristics may lead to heterogenous reactions on water demand across households in the event of an unexpected shock. In this sense, we estimate a switching regression model for residential water usage in Gijón, Spain, between 2017 and 2021, exploiting the exogenous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and various movement restriction phases. A rich dataset that integrates real data on water consumption and pricing, alongside reported household and housing characteristics, allows us to effectively control the heterogeneity of water consumers and test changes in marginal effects over time. Our findings reveal a significant increase in average water consumption coinciding with the onset of the pandemic. This increase in water usage was particularly pronounced among households with more members and those residing in older houses that also owned outdoor amenities such as gardens or swimming pools, among other socioeconomic and housing characteristics. Additionally, our study indicates that the price elasticity of water demand did not significantly differ from zero during the periods of the State of Alarm and the New Normal. This suggests that the implementation of movement restrictions and teleworking may have amplified households’ preferences and dependence on water, thus fostering increased water consumption. Furthermore, our results point towards unchanged residential information or knowledge of the expense of water services despite the time spent at home. Full article

Studies exploring not only whether, but also to what extent, telework can improve employees’ ability to coordinate private and work-related demands are largely absent. Using a probability-based large-scale survey of employees in Germany (N = 14,999), this study provides evidence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between the extent of telework and employees’ temporal alignment of work and private life, i.e., their success in considering personal and family matters when scheduling work. When telework comprised up to 40 percent of the total working time, employees were observed to temporally align their work and private life better than those who only worked on-site. Additional analyses indicated that particularly men, and even more so fathers, experience improved work and private life alignment with frequent teleworking. For women with and without children, however, highly extensive teleworking not only loses its positive effect, but is associated with less success in aligning work and private life compared to non-teleworking. To be able to benefit from telework, even when it is used extensively, clear rules are needed, for example, regarding expectations of accessibility for paid work as well as for home and care work. Full article

Background: In the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown and social distancing policies, a new form of work, already existing in the past, has been further enlarged. Teleworking is “full- or part-time electronic work, on-line or off-line, performed at home by self-employed or office workers” and today represents an important lever for companies, including for sustainability, allowing employees to work flexibly, efficiently and remotely. The relationship between telework and sustainability in economic, social, and environmental aspects is also being questioned. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the effects this has had on workers’ mental health. Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed. The research was performed on Pubmed and Scopus without restrictions on study type and time limits. The methodological quality of the studies included was assessed using AMSTAR-2, INSA and NOS scales. A meta-analysis of the main adverse effects found in observational studies was also carried out. Results: A total of 38 articles were included in the systematic review. A large proportion of the studies examined showed a correlation between teleworking and worsening mental health. The meta-analysis showed increased levels of mental ill-health (38.8%), stress (28.4%), isolation (6.3%), anxiety (23%), depression (22.6%), work–family conflicts (19.5%), poor sleep quality (56.4%), fatigue (16.1%) and irritability (39.6%). Conclusions: Although most of the works analyzed show a deterioration in the mental health of workers, positive effects were noted in some. There is the need for more studies to optimally investigate the cause–effect relationship between teleworking and mental health deterioration. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the increase in mortality and morbidity rates globally, but it has also led to a generalized worsening of mental health and risk behaviors in different population groups regardless of the measures adopted by different governments. In this paper, using data from a Spanish survey of emotional well-being, we aim to explore through mixed graphical models the complex structure of relationships between the mental health of populations, their lifestyles, and forms of cultural and leisure consumption during the pandemic. The results bring to light some interesting findings, such as the association between teleworking and greater rest or greater stress with the use of social media, a variable that enables the connection with other mental health problems of greater severity. Increased physical activity and the consumption of streaming content at home, as well as increased care for family, friends, and neighbors, are some of the variables that show relevant associations. These findings highlight the usefulness and versatility of this network approach for the study of health behaviors and health outcomes, which offer the researcher a holistic and organic view of the relational structure of complex data characterized by high dimensionality and variables with different levels of measurement. Full article

Home office (HO) stands out as one of the most promising and popular forms of teleworking, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, many companies want to implement or maintain this working method, given its numerous advantages. However, there are adverse effects that are mainly related to physical and mental health. This article presents ergonomic analyses of HOs in neighborhoods considered heat islands. Temperature levels, extreme low-frequency non-ionizing radiation (ELF-NIR), illuminance, physical layout characteristics, and physiological parameters of teleworkers were measured. The results reveal that 92% of these professionals work 6 to 8 h daily with an ambient temperature between 25 and 30 °C, illumination levels in the range 11.20–290 Lux, and ELF-NIR > 0.4 µT. The majority of teleworkers are overweight (BMI > 24.9), and some of them have blood pressure higher than average values (129 mmHg for systolic and 84 mmHg for diastolic) in addition to a reduction in the number of red blood cells and hematocrits. Symptoms such as burning sensation, dryness, tired eyes, redness, itching, and photophobia (light sensitivity) show a 68.95% similarity. These HOs do not meet the required ergonomic and health standards. Full article

Remote work in pandemic times has become a strategic alternative for organizations and has persisted in the post-pandemic context, remaining present in hybrid models of work arrangements, blending in-person work and telework. Thus, this paper proposes a model to identify the relationships between leadership, human resource management (HRM) practices, and quality of life in teleworking (QoLT) for civil servants. For this purpose, a structural model was tested in which HRM practices mediated the relationship between leadership and QoLT. The relationships assumed in the analysis of the tested mediation model were significant, confirming all four hypotheses researched. The novelty of the tested mediation model is the greatest contribution of this work, demonstrating the crucial role that HRM practices play in the relationship between leadership and QoLT. As practical implications, this research has yielded a diagnosis, allowing for a better understanding for public managers of how leadership and HRM practices are related and how they influence quality of life in the challenging context of teleworking. The findings suggest that leadership has a strong impact on HRM practices, highlighting the crucial role of leadership in shaping teleworkers’ perceptions of HRM practices. Additionally, leadership significantly influences the quality of life in telework, amplifying this impact through the perception of HRM practices. Therefore, leaders should be attentive to how relationship-building, training and development, and performance and competency evaluation in HRM practices are implemented and executed, as they profoundly influence the promotion of quality of life, considering the complex and challenging environment of telework, including workload, social distance, and work–family conflict. Full article

Teleworking has become an increasingly adopted modality in organizations. However, changes in working conditions have led to several challenges regarding its impacts on professionals’ health. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic review of the literature about the impact of teleworking on workers’ mental health. The PRISMA protocol and VOSviewer were used to identify the main trends from the set of 64 articles. The co-occurrence analyzes showed combined relationships between this new type of work and its effects on workers’ health, which resulted in four different clusters and a robust knowledge structure. Furthermore, the findings indicate that working from home has a dualistic nature. This study offers a prominent and promising framework regarding the teleworking impact on workers’ health research agenda. Full article

This paper presents a systematic literature review of the challenges faced by managers during COVID-19, with a focus on teleworking. The study consists of an analysis of 53 articles published in the period 2020–2023 in journals indexed in the Elsevier’s Scopus and Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science databases. The inclusion criteria were: (1) peer-reviewed articles; (2) empirical articles; (3) written in English. Five themes were identified: Leadership Styles, Organizational Support and Communication, Telework Productivity, Challenges Related to Telework, and Leaders’ Attitudes Towards Telework. The positive results show that telework can improve work performance with the right equipment, training, and leadership. Telework can also improve sustainability by limiting commuting and providing decent work with greater autonomy and flexibility. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research on this topic. Full article

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. Full article

Parenting was drastically challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic as families complied with the consequent containment for sanitary and social reasons. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among self-report measures (co-parenting, emotional experience and parental support network) and the employment condition (teleworking parents and at-home parents with governmental leave aid) that might be associated with the everyday life change, and their contribution towards family’s daily routines during the first COVID-19 lockdown. A sample of 878 parents (90.2% mothers), aged from 21 to 61 years (39.58 ± 6.08), and mainly of Portuguese nationality (97.2%), was gathered through an online survey. Participants completed sociodemographic data and answered questions related to four positive parenting dimensions (Daily routines, Co-parenting, Emotional experience, and Support network) rating on a five-point Likert scale how much their behavior changed during the lockdown. Descriptive statistics and multilinear regression models were tested as well as a mediation model. The results showed that Emotional experience, Co-parenting, and Support network played an important role in family Daily routines, reinforcing that the first COVID-19 lockdown was lived differently by parents according to their employment conditions. Furthermore, the pathways model of factors associated with parental adaptability is suggestive that the direct effect of Emotional experience on Daily routines is partially mediated by Co-parenting and Support network. In line with previous studies on the complexity and dynamic ecology of parenting, the reported indicators showcase the interrelated facets of parenting and its corresponding support needs. Further, clear indicators for the design of family support interventions and family resilience enhancement to stressor events are discussed. Full article

The current socio-economic scenario has promoted telecommuting at home for a significant number of workers, mainly due to the sanitary situation experienced and the improvement in communication technologies. However, the work context at home is often not suitable for teleworking since the environmental conditions are not usually adequate for good performance and the wellness of workers. The received light, both in quantity and in spectrum, affects the visual comfort and performance of the worker through the regulation of the circadian stimulus. Accordingly, the objective of the present study is to ascertain the influence of natural daylight on the performance and health of teleworkers, considering a room at home analyzed in three different locations, two orientations, two-time schedules, and two window shapes. The impact of natural light on health was assessed using the Circadian Stimulus Autonomy (CSA) produced by daylight during the morning, while the illuminance requirement was defined in accordance with the Daylight Autonomy (DA). The results obtained were contrasted with a real test cell under real daylight conditions. The conclusions of this study serve to determine the suitable windowed areas of the analyzed room where teleworkers obtain the appropriate lighting performance and well-being. Full article

After three years of COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions, mobility seems to have returned to normality. However, the pandemic has left changes in the mobility patterns of the Madrid Region produced by new trends emerging from COVID-19. This paper analyzes these changes, focusing on the impacts on public transport use, the effects of telematic activities and the influence of home relocation. The basis of the analysis is a survey conducted from November to December 2022, with more than 15,000 valid responses. The results show that public transport lost 6% of trips. These trips have different transfer rates depending on their geographic location. In the City Center, the majority transferred to active modes. However, the car attracted most of these trips in the Metropolitan Ring. These changes in mobility patterns are partly a consequence of the increase in telematic activities. Teleworking has increased by more than 20% in the Madrid Region and has caused changes in trips per week and trip purpose. In addition, teleworking has caused 18% of home relocations to peripheral zones of the region. This paper investigates through statistical analysis which sociodemographic and spatial factors explain the differences in mobility impacts throughout the zones of the Madrid Region. Full article

This study explores the drivers of employees’ attitudes towards home teleworking with Tobit regression and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Drawing from technology acceptance models, it derives hypotheses regarding variable relationships and telecommuting perceptions. Data were obtained from a survey with 3104 responses conducted by the Spanish Agency “Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas” in Spring 2021. The results emphasize the pivotal role of the family-life impact in shaping telecommuting perceptions, alongside factors like location, ICT satisfaction, employer support, and job adaptability. The results from fsQCA reveal an asymmetric influence of input factors on the positive and negative evaluations. Positive perceptions are associated with family-life positivity, firm support, strong ICT, and non-provincial residence, while negative attitudes relate to family-life negativity, lack of employer support, and poor connectivity. The main innovation of this paper lies in the combined use of correlational and configurational methods, enriching insights into employee telecommuting perceptions beyond traditional regression analysis. Full article

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, working from home has become the norm for millions of workers worldwide. The purpose of this research was to analyze the benefits and challenges of teleworking in the administrative sectors (except Telehealth Services) of Greek healthcare units with a view to harnessing the knowledge gained through experience, in order to create a frame for sustainable behaviors. Complex and dynamic changes, from both a technical and behavioral aspect, are required to implement teleworking. Therefore, a systematic literature review (SLR) as well as primary quantitative research were used as research methods. The purpose of the SLR was to identify the existing scientific literature. Then, combined with the results of the quantitative research, the data were analyzed, described, and interpreted, and then summarized in the conclusion. In addition, the research was conducted to identify the relationships between telecommuting and organizational behavior, in order to achieve sustainable development in businesses. Moreover, an important positive aspect of telework that emerged from this literature review is the creation of opportunities for potential direct or indirect linkages between telework and many sustainable development goals (SDGs), based on the fact that telework appears to be a community-friendly form of work. In summary, this research strongly suggests that leaders facilitate telecommuters to adopt green practices and volunteerism that can consequently contribute to the SDGs. However, in order to meet the challenges arising from unprecedented times, the leaders of the organizations should redesign their policies, while governments should focus on guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of the workers. Full article