Remote work and work-life balance: lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and suggestions for HRD practitioners
Remote work and work-life balance: lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and suggestions for HRD practitioners
Popular representations of remote work often depict it as a flexible, technologically feasible, and family-friendly work arrangement. Have the images of remote working as a desirable work arrangement been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic? What have we learned from the widespread involuntary remote work imposed on many employees during this time? To answer these questions, we analysed 40 recent empirical studies that examined work-life balance while working from home during the pandemic. Our analysis was informed by the person-environment fit theory and complemented by literature reviews on remote work conducted prior to the pandemic. We found four themes representing misfits between desirable expectations and the undesirable realities of remote work: (1) flextime vs. work intensity, (2) flexplace vs. space limitation, (3) technologically-feasible work arrangementvs. technostress and isolation, and (4) family-friendly work arrangement vs. housework and care intensity. We highlight the important role HRD practitioners can play in assisting employees to achieve a fit between their expectations and experiences of remote work.
Remote work, telecommuting, telework, virtual work, work-from-home
163-181
Shirmohammadi, Melika
08b4c9e0-4f76-486f-b4c5-f25528476711
Au, Wee Chan
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Beigi, Mina
2986037e-5bb3-4ec0-be55-bf291ac17e24
10 March 2022
Shirmohammadi, Melika
08b4c9e0-4f76-486f-b4c5-f25528476711
Au, Wee Chan
d784e090-2936-4010-a963-2d1a27f90472
Beigi, Mina
2986037e-5bb3-4ec0-be55-bf291ac17e24
Shirmohammadi, Melika, Au, Wee Chan and Beigi, Mina
(2022)
Remote work and work-life balance: lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic and suggestions for HRD practitioners.
Human Resource Development International, 25 (2), .
(doi:10.1080/13678868.2022.2047380).
Abstract
Popular representations of remote work often depict it as a flexible, technologically feasible, and family-friendly work arrangement. Have the images of remote working as a desirable work arrangement been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic? What have we learned from the widespread involuntary remote work imposed on many employees during this time? To answer these questions, we analysed 40 recent empirical studies that examined work-life balance while working from home during the pandemic. Our analysis was informed by the person-environment fit theory and complemented by literature reviews on remote work conducted prior to the pandemic. We found four themes representing misfits between desirable expectations and the undesirable realities of remote work: (1) flextime vs. work intensity, (2) flexplace vs. space limitation, (3) technologically-feasible work arrangementvs. technostress and isolation, and (4) family-friendly work arrangement vs. housework and care intensity. We highlight the important role HRD practitioners can play in assisting employees to achieve a fit between their expectations and experiences of remote work.
Text
Remote work and work life balance Lessons learned from the covid 19 pandemic and suggestions for HRD practitioners
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Accepted/In Press date: 24 February 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 10 March 2022
Published date: 10 March 2022
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Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords:
Remote work, telecommuting, telework, virtual work, work-from-home
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 457067
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457067
ISSN: 1367-8868
PURE UUID: a441153f-ad89-4674-8474-dead1df0d84c
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Date deposited: 23 May 2022 16:46
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:47
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Author:
Melika Shirmohammadi
Author:
Wee Chan Au
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