Course Code: MGN573 Course Title: Capstone Project - I

Course Instructor: Divya Kalra

Date of submission: 23.10.2020

Student’s Roll no: B36 Student’s Reg. no: 1 1 9 1 1 3 4 3

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Topic of the Project:

Home as workplace: A qualitative view

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TOPIC

Home as workplace: A qualitative view

(Adapting to the new normal: The key to Corporate Future)

ABSTRACT

On 2nd March 2020, speaking at the COVID-19 media briefing, the Director-General of WHO,

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasized that the virus is capable of community

transmission. Kerala recorded India’s first confirmed COVID19 case in India on 30th Jan 2020,

complete Lockdown came into effect on 25th March 2020, wherein complete movement of life

and business was restricted. No one had fathomed the scale of impact COVID 19 pandemics

would have on our lives and businesses.

During the onset of this abrupt lockdown, everyone was in a dire state of an anomaly. The whole

corporate world was disconcerted and quite doggy for the continuation of work in the near

future. COVID-19 pandemic has enforced the concept of remote working i.e. 'Work from Home'

(WFH) into an officially mandated, strictly enforced rule to ensure safety and to contain the

spread of the virus. The compulsion to Work from home became a survival rule for the

companies and their employees alike, either adopt or perish.

The aim of this paper is to understand firstly the concept of work from home effectiveness and

organizational and employee preparedness to embrace the new normal, the benefits and the

challenges encountered by the Working professionals, Role of the organizations in ensuing the

mental and physical welling of their employees and finally to find out the influence of Work Life
Balance on various aspects like physical, occupational, emotional, social, spiritual and

environmental wellbeing of employees.

This sudden unforeseen transition made not only the organizations but also the employees

uncertain and braced. Gradually this dubiety came to a little rest, and the new normal started

establishing itself, which hence made us meticulously observe the ins and outs of remote

working. However, with passage of time and accumulating more experience on the nuances

during the nationwide lockdown, some made it successfully through all the thick and thin but,

some still face the struggles of remote working.

OBJECTIVES

• To explore work from home effectiveness and organizational and employee preparedness

to embrace the new normal.

• To analyze the benefits and the challenges encountered by the Working professionals.

• Role of the organizations in ensuing the mental and physical welling of their employees.

• To ascertain the level of work life balance of employees.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

George Saridakis (2020) studied the measures of information and communication technology as

due to Covid-19 there is constant move from traditional office-based work operations to work

from home arrangements with computer based assisted technology which helps the employees to

develop new technical skills and to explore innovation during crisis.

Abdulquddus Mohammed (2020) examined that how the skill of work-life balance can be

nurtured by applying some guidelines like set your priority clearly and while working it is

important to be mindful and be focused to save our relationships, health and overall happiness

and well-being while working from home.

Kazekami (2020) studies the mechanisms having an influence on productivity of the employees

working from home. Several factors are examined in particular: the stress of balancing work and

domestic chores, life satisfaction, work satisfaction and decreasing time spent on commuting

during rush hours. The article also lists the drawbacks of teleworking, such as concentrating on

work while caring for children or another family member.

Alghaithi (2020) investigates the drawbacks of the working from home in terms of the

productivity of the employees in his article “Improving Remote Employees’ Organizational

Productivity – Practical Guidelines for Identifying and Managing Bottlenecks in Today’s

World”. The study is based on other peer-reviewed journal articles and published reports.

According to the article, working from home increases the productivity, if their organizations

offer them the necessary support, such as enhanced communication and the provision of support

services. It is claimed that the productivity is mainly a result of the work-life balance of the

employees and flexibility of the work hours claims that there are also drawbacks of the working
from home. These drawbacks are concerned with “the nature of an organization, the personality

of an employee, family demands

Monteiro et al. (2019) explore whether remote work increases the labour productivity or not.

They use rich sample data from firms over the period 2011-2016 to determine the effect of

remote work 14 on productivity empirically. They claim that although it is empirically proven by

many previous studies, the hypothesis of “working remotely contributes to job satisfaction and

motivation of the employees” needs to be reviewed again. Therefore, they used “a longitudinal

panel dataset of firms in a sample that is representative of the whole economy, including

manufacturing and services industries” to broaden the analysis scope. The Observer show that

the trends toward flexible working patterns are also influenced by technological developments

whereby business can be conducted away from the specified office environment and often at

considerably lower financial costs, making working at 3am and on holiday.

Hyman et al. (2002) concluded that there is a financial incentive to encourage flexible working

which has been explicit in any material aimed at the commercial or public sector but this remains

hidden where the benefits are being sold to employees and workers in general. Itis important

therefore to challenge the current view that that there are only positive benefits to be gained by

pursuing the work–life balance.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study will adopt the descriptive type of research approach for analyzing the situation of

Work from Home. Purposive sampling technique will be used to get the response from the

employees. The study sampling unit targets in Entry Level Employees, Mid-Level Employees,

Senior-level Employees and C-Suite level employees. The sample size will be of minimum 80-

100. Structured questionnaire was designed to collect the primary data from the employees as the

research only focuses on the primary data. Statistical techniques such as percentage analysis will

be use to analyze the data.

RESEARCH GAP

The present study addressed a need in the current literature to understand how online employees

accommodate their workplace within their home and how the workplace affects their home

environment as some of the companies like reliance general insurance and RPG were offering

work from home to their employees before Covid-19 outbreak and now the scale is larger than

before as every organization is adopting work from home.

As more knowledge accumulates on the work from home interface, employers may wish to make

suggestions and offer training for new employees on establishing and maintaining the

work/home setting.

REFERENCE

Work from Home (WFH), Employee Productivity and Wellbeing: Lessons from COVID-19 and

Future Implications, George Saridakis (2020)

Work-Life-Balance While Working from Home During COVID-19 Uncertain Days,

Abdulquddus Mohammed (2020)

Mechanisms to improve labor productivity by performing telework, Kazekami (2020)

The Influence of Working from Homeon Employees' Productivity, Alghaithi (2020)

“Does remote work improve or impair firm labour productivity? Longitudinal evidence from

Portugal, Monteiro et al. (2019)

QUESTIONARE

1. What challenges did you face during work from home?

 Long Working Hours than Usual
 Had to Attend Unnecessary Meetings
 Sleep cycle Affected
 Productivity Deteriorated
 Salary Inconsistencies and Pay-Cuts

2. What problems did you face in professional life?

 Rift with co-workers due to miscommunication

 Ignored by seniors and not given feedback on time
 Not included in important meetings
 Colleagues were not reachable
 Didn’t face any such problem

3. What were the steps taken by the organization for well- being of employees?

 Organized motivational sessions

 Provided necessary work tools
 Tried not to disturb family time
 Took survey to know problems faced
 No Such step was taken
 4. Which one is convenient in your perspective?

 Work from home

 Office
 combination of both

5. Do you enjoy your day to day work while working from home?

 Agree
 Can’t say
 Disagree

6. Do you have to work long hours due to job insecurity?

 Agree
 Can’t say
 Disagree

7. Are you able to maintain work-life balance?

 Agree
 Can’t say
 Disagree

8. Has your Mental Health Deteriorated?

 Agree
 Can't Say
 Disagree

9. Was your Physical Health Deteriorated?

• Agree
• Can't Say
• Disagree
Agee -------------------------------------------

10. Did you get enough time to Rest during the day?

• Agree
• Can't Say
• Disagree
11. Did you Have to reduce Quality time with Family?

• Agree
• Can't Say
• Disagree

12. Have you experienced work from home before COVID 19 Outbreak?

 NEVER
 1-15 DAYS
 ABOVE 30 DAYS
 15-30 DAYS
 FREELANCE BEFORE

13. What benefits did you find of Work from Home?

 Saved Money from Traveling Expenses.

 Gave more Time to Family.
 Flexible Timings.
 Avoid Office Politics.
 Suffer lesser Stress at Home.