One of the consequences of the coronavirus on employers has been an increase in the number of persons working remotely, very often working from home. This did not happen just in Malta but also in other countries. Although specific numbers are not fully known, indications are that as many as a third of employees have worked from home during this period.
Business meetings were also held online. We got to realise how much time we wasted by being stuck in traffic going to work or driving back home or going to meetings.
When I broached the subject of remote working with both employers and employees, I was told that they expect that remote working will remain as staff have got accustomed to it. There is general agreement that it will not be remote working for five days a week but more like one or two days working from home and three days working at the workplace.
Obviously remote working cannot be applied across the board. There are employees who work in a customer-facing job, or employees who work on an assembly line, or employees whose job requires their physical presence at the workplace. These categories of employees cannot work remotely and like them there are others. However, what has working remotely really meant for employees?
Research published by Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, indicates that during the early stages of the COVID-19 period, 18 per cent of respondents that worked remotely have had to work in their free time every day or every other day to meet work demands. Moreover, 33 per cent stated that they have kept worrying about work even when they were not working.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that isolation and the reduction of personal contact with one’s work colleagues has had a negative impact on the employees’ motivation. Some employers continued to think in pre-coronavirus terms – creating online activities to boost morale, having a free lunch delivered to employees’ home once a week and other such initiatives. These were all aimed at maintaining high the extrinsic motivation of employees.
Employers need to rethink their HR strategy and make it more relevant to a post-coronavirus workplace
They did not stop to think that maybe job satisfaction, job stability and a sense of pride in achieving one’s goals (factors leading to the intrinsic motivation of employees) were not being taken for granted anymore by employees and employers were expected to deliver on these issues as well. I would say that these factors started to play a more important influence on employees’ motivation than factors that are simply aimed at providing external rewards.
Research conducted by MISCO on the subject confirms these views. It suggests that the main challenges faced by employees working remotely are a blurred line between personal and professional life, managing one’s schedule effectively, working too much and social isolation.
Respondents to this research said that what they missed most about not being at their workplace was talking to colleagues, a clear separation between home and work, having a proper dedicated workspace and not seeing other people around them working.
What possibly summarises the feeling of employees working from home is that they have generally felt safe and connected with their family but stressed, anxious and isolated.
These experiences should provide food for thought for employers. Many employers I have spoken to were greatly concerned about the productivity of employees when working remotely. This is perfectly understandable and what this means is that employers need to find new tools to measure an employee’s effectiveness at work as the current tools may no longer be good enough.
Hopefully, this period has also shaken up those employers who were only too keen to stimulate the extrinsic motivation of their employees while ignoring the intrinsic factors. What provides real employee engagement and mental wellness are these intrinsic motivation factors.
The extent to which working remotely will continue post-pandemic still remains to be seen, even if there is the belief that it will actually continue. I believe that irrespective of what happens, employers need to rethink their HR strategy and make it more relevant to a post-coronavirus workplace.