Bulacan State University

Graduate School

Employees Engagement
In
Remote Working

A Research Paper
Presented
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Subject
BUSINESS ETHICS
For
Graduate School – Master in Business Administration

By:

Nocos, Grace Ann M.

Submitted to:

Dr. Emerlita Naguiat

1
 Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………… 3

General Objective of the Study………………………………………………………….. 5

Assumptions …………………………………………………………………………….. 6

RELATED LITERATURE ………………………………………………………………… 7

Conceptual Framework …………………………………………………………………. 11

METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………………………………. 13

RESULTS & ANALYSIS ………………………………………………………………….. 13

CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………….. 27

RECOMMENDATION ……………………………………………………………………. 29

REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………….. 31

APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………………………… 32

2
 INTRODUCTION
There is a certain way individuals behave in a particular situation. No two individuals

behave in similar ways. There are individuals who find it difficult to handle stress whereas there

are certain individuals who have the ability to face unforeseen circumstances with a smile.

Employee engagement goes beyond activities, games, and events. Employee engagement

drives performance. Engaged employees look at the whole of the company and understand their

purpose, where, and how they fit in. This leads to better decision-making. Organizations with an

engaged workforce outperform their competition. They have higher earnings per share (EPS) and

recover more quickly after recessions and financial setbacks. Engagement is a key differentiator

when it comes to growth and innovation. To better understand the needs of your organization,

administering an employee engagement survey is key. This is not the same as a satisfaction

survey.

Moreover, expectations of employees have changed. Mobile professional careers are

much more common than “job for lifers”. Retention of top talent is more difficult than before. A

company that has an effective employee engagement strategy and a highly engaged workforce is

more likely to retain top performers as well as attract new talent. Successful organizations are

value-driven with employee-centric cultures.

Engagement with the Organization measures how engaged employees are with the

organization as a whole, and by extension, how they feel about senior management. This factor

has to do with confidence in organizational leadership as well as trust, fairness, values, and

respect - i.e. how people like to be treated by others, both at work and outside of work. While on

3
the other hand, remote work defines as to organizational work outside of the normal

organizational confines of spice and time.

Remote worker is no longer the “work of the future”, it is the work of today.

Remote working is growing rapidly, and technological, demographic, and social trends suggest

that remote working will continue to grow. Flexible schedules and remote working options are

the preferred option for many employees, and are linked to improved productivity, job

satisfaction and work engagement.

Parallel to the decline in the culture of engagement, organizations are experiencing rapid

growth in their remote work options (Nickson & Siddons, 2012). Working remotely has become

more the norm for organization than the exception. From 2005 to 2013 the number of U.S.

remote workers rose 80% (Tugend, 2014). Organizational culture experts have called this

increase in remote work culture of engagement (Piaget, 2013; Pierce, 2013; Roark, 2013), that is,

a work environment where the leaders create a culture defined by meaningful work, deep

employee engagement, job and organizational fit and strong authentic leadership (West, 2013).

With this rapid growth and expansion of remote working options, organizational leaders have

grown increasingly concerned about their ability to build, manage and maintain a workplace

culture of engagement with employees who they never physically see in the office space

(Adkins, 2015; Roark, 2013; Tugend, 2014)

Why do People Want to Work Remotely?

In preliminary surveys and interviews with people who work remotely [Olson, 1983],

researcher identified several recurrent issues with respect to people’s interest in work at home.

They are the following:

4
 * Need for flexibility – With over seventy percent of women, and over fifty percent of

mothers of small children, holding permanent jobs, the amount of conflict between work and non

work demands for both men and women has increased substantially. Flex-time programs are very

limited in scope and do not address the need. Workers search for any kind of work situation that

gives them greater control over their own work' schedule, and work at home appears to provide

that control.

* Commuting Hassles - The tolls of commuting to and from work, on stress and physical

health as well as time and cost, have not been adequately studied. For many, the value of even

one day a week at home is primarily felt in terms of not commuting; they feel much better and

add as many as four hours to their productive day. Although few companies have acknowledged

the effect of commuting stress on productivity, it is possible-many people spend at least the first

half hour of the day simply recovering from getting to work.

* Lifestyle demands. For a small number of people whose skills are in demand, work at

home is a convenience and a privilege. It may be that they choose to live at a distance that

precludes commuting, and the company tolerates their work at home because of their valued

skills. Others see the benefit because of hobbies and recreation; they can play ball with their kids

when they come home from school, or ski in the middle of the week when there are no crowds.

A disproportionate amount of attention has been given to people in this situation, such as wealthy

stockbrokers and specialized computer "hackers”.

General Objective of the Study

The general objective of the study is to assess the effects of working remotely in the

employees and how they feel on the major change of their working environment.

5
Specific Objectives

1. To describe the socio – economic characteristics of the residents.

2. To know the awareness of the employees in working remotely.

3. To know the feeling of the employees while working remotely.

4. To determine if the employee working remotely have the right equipment and tools.

Assumption

The researcher assume that the respondents are aware on how remote working works and

set up of remote working. And how to deal the work environment without seeing physically your

co-worker.

6
 RELATED LITERATURE

The phenomenon of employee engagement has been a major topic of interest and study

within the management and leadership community of practice over the last 30 years (Saks,

2006). The literature on engagement appears to be limited to employees in the traditional office

and does not include remote employee engagement (Adkins, 2015; Anita & Aruna, 2016;

Dvorak & Sasaki, 2017).

Over the last three decades, researcher analyze working remotely and its consequences in

various disciplines like business and economics , environmental sciences or psychology (e.g.

Bailyn 1988; Henderson, Koenig and Mokhtarian 1996; Gajendran and Harrison 2007).

According to the literature, working from home is characterized by two main aspects. First,

employees work outside the common workplace. Second, a connection between home and office

exists. Information exchange and communication with colleagues is possible through the use of

information and communication technologies (Bélanger 1999; Bailey and Kurland 2002).

Moreover, the literature states that employees need to have a suitable job design for working

from home. Working from home is most suitable for employees, who mainly have knowledge-

based tasks, few face-to-face contacts and a high degree of autonomy (Bailey and Kurland 2002).

A majority of the studies focus on analyzing benefits and drawbacks of working from

home (e.g. Baruch 2000; Gajendran and Harrison 2007) or analyze the influence of working

from home on work-family balance (e.g. Sullivan and Lewis 2001; Hill, Ferris and Märtinson

2003; Golden, Veiga and Simsek 2006). In contrast, performance effects of working from home

receive little attention in the literature.

7
 Older studies, which investigate the relationship of working from home and employees’

performance, primarily use case studies and survey data from specific industries (Bailyn 1988;

Olson 1989; DuBrin 1991; Bélanger 1999). Bailyn (1988) gives first insights into working from

home and influences on employees using data from three case studies. All interviewed

employees indicate that their perceived productivity increases while working from home. This

positive impact on productivity is mainly attributed to a higher degree of autonomy and thus

increased motivation. A quite similar study to Bailyn (1988) is the study by Olson (1989), who

analyzes the consequences of working from home for employees and their employers, with data

from three case studies. She finds that employees report a slight increase in perceived

productivity. Though, employers state that they do not realize any productivity gains. Olson

(1989) explains the merely moderate productivity increase at home in the three considered cases

by bad technological equipment, which employees face at home. Another study that analyzes the

impact of working from home on productivity is the study by DuBrin (1991). He uses data on

clerical employees working in a large US market research firm, who can either work from home

or stay in the office. Productivity is measured as data entries per hour for a project group. DuBrin

(1991) shows in his empirical analysis that working from home increases group productivity.

However, he compares changes in group productivity when projects are moved from office to

working from home. Though, there is no comparison of productivity changes for the same

employees. Bélanger (1999) investigates how working from home affects the perceived

productivity of employees in the high technology sector. She finds that working from home is

associated with higher perceived productivity. However, results need to be interpreted with

caution as Bélanger (1999) also finds that employees self-select into working from home and

therefore differentiate in their characteristics.

8
 Moving workers from employment to contractor status certainly has advantages for

employers, primarily in giving them the flexibility to expand and contract the labor force with

supply and demand. There is evidence that contract work is a growing trend in offices as well as

production work [Nelson, 19861. Although there are costs associated with turning to this

"external market, the tremendous recent growth in temporary employment agencies should force

these costs lower, In 1984 Center for Digital Economy Research Stem School of Business

IVorking Paper IS-87-080 alone payrolls for temporary agencies were $6 billion, an increase of

33 percent in a single year [Peffer and Baron, 1985, as cited in Nelson, 19863.

Working remotely changed participants' working conditions in three main ways. First,

they saved about 80 minutes per day in commuting time, giving them time to take care of

personal and family responsibilities. Second, they were unable to receive real-time support from

their supervisors. Finally, they generally worked alone and in a quieter environment than

comparison employees in the office.

Early Leadership Models and Their Impact on Employee Engagement

Early theoretical concepts of leadership were exclusionary and accessible only to a select

group of men who, at that time, were thought to be predestined to assume the leadership roles in

society (James, 1880). The concept of predestined male-patterned leadership became known as

the great man theory of James (1880), who suggested great men brought about change in society;

he believed that great men represented the history of the world and that they set the bar for what

leadership looked like (Landis, Hill, & Harvey, 2014). These early ideas of leadership paired

well with the earliest forms of 34 management. In the early 1900s, Taylor (1911) began to

formalize his ideas of scientific management. Much like great man theory, in this management

9
model Taylor focused on men’s abilities to increase the production and profitability of an

organization (Huang, Tung, Lo, & Chou, 2013). Taylor argued great men were predestined to be

great leaders and could motivate others to work harder through one basic scientific premise: Men

needed money to survive, so offering money as a motivational incentive would increase their

work output (Brennan, 2011). In these early models of leadership and motivation theory, the

power lay within the person in the leadership position (i.e., manager/leader). The concept of

position power extended the construct of transactional leadership (Pierro, Raven, Amato, &

Bélanger, 2013; Vigoda-Gadot & Beeri, 2012). The basis of transactional leadership is twofold.

First, there is an economic contract where there is a basic short-term exchange. That is money is

exchanged for the work completed (Pierro et al., 2013). Second is management by-exception.

The leader/manager only intervenes to make correction when the employee makes mistakes

(Pierro et al., 2013). Transactional leadership is directly related to the great man theory and

scientific management model; the leaders hold the power and make decisions. Employees’ needs

or individualized motivational indicators were not considered in these earlier theories and

leadership models. In early leadership models, there was little to no focus on employee

engagement, except when employees began to negatively impact the bottom line and the leader

needs to make corrections to minimize the impact (Burns, 1978; Groves & LaRocca, 2011;

Ismail et al., 2010)

The early leadership and management models are still evident in some organizations

today; these transactional models are in direct opposition of what modern employees say

increases their levels of workplace engagement (Gonzales, Matz-Costa, & Morrow-Howell,

2015; Schullery, 2013). A conflict occurs between how engagement is increased by

organizational leaders (who practice transactional leadership methods of engagement) and their

10
ability to provide their employees with an environment/culture that supports engagement

(Kovjanic, Schuh, & Jonas, 2013). The conflict between increasing engagement through

transactional leadership is also displayed in remote work environments. Managers and leaders

often support remote work purely because of the benefits to the organization and to themselves

(Adkins, 2016). Some of the benefits leaders receive are higher production rates, better quality of

work, increased working hours, little to no overhead costs, and employees who seem to be more

engaged in their work than traditional in-office workers (Caillier, 2013; Desmarais, 2014; Paris,

2014). If the employee also happens to benefit from the conveniences of working remotely, then

the outcome may be considered mutually successful (as previously referenced in the SET). In

using these transactional models, the employees’ level of engagement is merely a coincidental

benefit rather than a direct outcome of managements’ efforts to increase their engagement

Conceptual Framework

Information regarding remote work cultures of engagement and what influences remote

workers’ engagement levels is limited. The conceptual framework was a blueprint for examining

the phenomenon of workplace engagement among remote workers. The concept of employee

engagement is often based on how it is being defined, used and measured. With the proliferation

of remote structures and technologies for communication, understanding employee engagement

in the modern workplace lacks the construction and research needed to be defined and fully

realized within the management and leadership community of practice (Eisenberger et al., 2016).

The conceptual framework built upon Kahn’s (1990) personal engagement and disengagement

theory and revealed the fluid nature of employee engagement and how people experience

workplace engagement. Maslow’s (1943) need theory suggested how personal motivation

combined with personal engagement may affect work cultures and create environments that

11
influence employees’ commitment to their organization. Organizational leaders and stakeholders

assume that employee engagement drives organizational performance (Pierce, 2013), so there is

naturally a dual interest in ensuring employees are engaged in their work. The dual interest is

advantageous for organizational leaders to provide a working environment where employees feel

like the customer, which leads to employees working at what Maslow (1943) called the self-

actualized / self managed level. Engaged remote employees are often those who work harder and

longer and produce more than their in-office colleagues (Alton, 2017; Paris, 2015). Gallup

(2017) has conducted comprehensive research on employee engagement for the last 17 years,

and, based on their research, Gallup defined engaged employees as those who are personally

involved in, excited about, and committed to their work, coworkers, and workplace. Gallup’s

definition aligns with Kahn’s (1990) theory of engagement; Kahn argued those who are

personally engaged choose to express themselves cognitively, emotionally, and physically when

they involve themselves in activities they believe to be meaningful and safe, and those where the

resources needed are available to complete the tasks. The alignment between Gallup and Kahn is

also connected to Maslow’s (1943, 1965) need theory and his later research on eupsychian

management. Once employees’ lower and higher-level needs are met (Maslow, 1943) and they

are operating at a self-actualized level, they will work effectively and efficiently at a self-

managed pace without 28 the need for assistance of an organizational leader (Maslow, 1965).

Maslow’s (1965) concept of eupsychian management reflects the ideas and characteristics of

what Gallup (2017) and Kahn (1990) deemed to be an engaged employee.

The work of Maslow (1943, 1965), Kahn (1990), and Gallup (2017) has helped define

employee engagement, a phenomenon that is steadily decreasing (Adkins, 2016). Indeed, as of

12
2017 approximately 70% of workers reported they were not engaged at work (Gallup, 2017), and

remote workers were the least engaged of the disengaged employees (Dvorak & Sasaki, 2017).

METHODOLOGY

The quantitative – survey method of research was utilized in this study in describing the

socio – economic characteristics of the employees in the certain company who transitioned to

fully embraced the remote working environment. The data gathered from the 50 respondents who

are working remotely in the country United Arab Emirates, they are from different countries,

Philippines, India, Benin, United Kingdom and U.A.E itself that are collated and subjected to

statistical treatment using frequency, percentage and mean.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

This part presents the findings of the study on the basis of the objectives identified.

Part 1: Socio – economic characteristic of the respondents.

The socio – economic characteristics of the respondents were described in terms of age,

gender, civil status, position in the company, monthly income and cost of living in the country

they from.

The succeeding tables exhibit the frequency and percentage distribution of the socio –

economic characteristics of the respondents

13
Table 1: Socio – Economic Characteristic of the Respondents in terms of Age

Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

Age Bracket
F % F %

51 and above 2 5.26 % 1 8.33 %

41 – 50 4 10.52 % 0 0%

31 – 40 18 47.37 % 8 66.67 %

21 – 30 14 36.85 % 3 25 %

Total 38 100 % 12 100 %

As seen in the table, the age of the respondents ranges from 21 years old to 51 and above.

Thus, majority or 18 (47.37%) and 8 (66.67%) of the respondents in the Consultancy and

Pediatric Service belong to 31 to 40 years old respectively. Whereas, greater number of

respondents or 14 (36.85%) in Consultancy Service comes from the age 21 to 30. Further, lowest

participation across the two service sector is from the age bracket of 51 years old and above with

2 (5.26%) and 1 (8.33%) in Consultancy and Pediatric Service. The mean age, however, of the

respondent is 25 years old.

Table 2: Socio – Economic Characteristic of the Respondents in Terms of Sex.

Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

Items
F % F %

Male 20 52.63 % 4 33.33 %

Female 18 47.37 % 8 66.67 %

Total 38 100 % 12 100 %

14
 Table 2 shows that from the 38 respondents in the Consultancy Service, 20 or 52.63% are

male and 18 or 47.37% are female. And 4 or 33.33% and 8 or 66.67 from the 12 respondents in

Pediatric Service are male and female respectively.

Table 3: Socio – Economic Characteristic of the Respondents in Terms of Civil Status

Items Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

F % F %

Married 26 68.42 % 8 66.67

Single 10 26.32 % 3 25 %

Widowed 2 5.26 % 0 0%

Separated 0 0% 1 8.33 %

Total 38 100 % 12 100 %

In the table it can be seen that most of the respondents both in Consultancy and Pediatric

Service are married, data are 26 or 68.42% and 8 or 66.67% respectively. Second of the highest

numbers of respondent are single in which in Consultancy Service, its 10 or 26.32% while on the

Pediatric Service it is 3 or 25%. The number of widowed and separated are note worthy of

attention in which the data collected is almost zero.

Table 4: Socio – Economic Characteristic of the Respondents in Terms of Position in the

Company

Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

Items
F % F %

Managing Director 1 2.63 % 1 8.33 %

CEO 1 2.63 % 1 8.33 %

15
Customer Sales Executive 7 18.42 % 0 0%

Sales & Operation 4 10.53 % 0 0%

Human Resource 2 5.26 % 0 0%

Software Engineer 5 13.16 % 0 0%

Assembly Line Engineer 5 13.16 % 0 0%

Front End Developer 5 13.16 % 0 0%

Coder 5 13.16 % 0 0%

Account Executive 3 7.89 % 1 8.34 %

Nurse 0 0% 3 25 %

Doctor / Consultant 0 0% 3 25 %

Psychologists 0 0% 3 25 %

Total 38 100 % 12 100 %

The respondents were categorized according to their position in the company. As seen in

the table, in the Consultancy Service most of the respondent comes from the Customer Sales

Executive data are 7 or 18.42%, while the second highest comes from the Engineers and

Developers of the company that have a number of 5 or 13.16 respectively. Third highest is the

Sales & Operation of the company which is 4 or 10.53 from the data collected. The remaining 7

or 18.41% of the respondent comes from the position in the company doing the internal works

while the first three positions mentioned are mostly focused on the customer and product that the

company offers.

Furthermore, on the Pediatric Service, there are mostly a balance proportion of the

numbers / percentage of the respondents. Total of 3 or 25% each are comes from Nurses, Doctors

/ Consultant and Psychologist respectively, on which these people are directly in contact with the

customer. While the remaining 3 or 25% are the top management and one account executive.

16
Table 5: Socio – Economic Characteristic of the Respondents in Terms of Monthly Income

Amount Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

(Php) F % F %

100,001 and above 2 5.26 % 2 16.67 %

80,001 – 100,000 9 23.68 % 3 25 %

60,001 – 80,000 10 26.32 % 2 16.67 %

40,001 – 60,000 12 31.58 % 4 33.33 %

20,000 – 40,000 5 13.16 % 1 8.33 %

Total 38 100 % 12 100 %

The table shows that the monthly income of the respondents are earning from P 100,001

and above to P 20,000. There are 2 or 5.26% both in Consultancy and Pediatric Service whose

monthly income is as high as P 100,001 and above while there are 5 or 13.16 and 1 or 8.33

whose income is between P 20,000 to P 40,000 respectively.

Monthly income of the respondents are expected to be high than the average income here

in the Philippines, since all of the respondents companies are located in United Arab Emirates.

Table 6: Socio – Economic Characteristics of the Respondents in Terms of their Country

Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

Country
F % F %

United Arab Emirates 10 26.32 % 8 66.67 %

India 14 36.84 % 2 16.67 %

Philippines 11 28.95 % 1 8.33

Benin 3 7.89 % 0 0%

17
 United Kingdom 0 0% 1 8.33 %

Total 38 100 % 12 100 %

Table 6 shows that most of the respondents whose working remotely are from the United

Arab Emirates, India and Philippines, which have a data of 10 (26.32%), 14 (36.84) and 11

(28.95) for Consultancy Service while Pediatric Service have 8 (66.67), 2 (16.67) and 1 (8.33)

respectively.

Table 7: Socio – Economic Characteristics of the Respondents in Terms of Cost of Living

Monthly

Amount Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

F % F %

30,001 and above 12 31.58 % 6 50 %

25,001 – 30,000 16 42.11 % 6 50 %

20,000 - 25,000 10 26.31 % 0 0%

Total 38 100 % 12 100 %

Based on the collected data, 12 or 31.58% of the respondents who answered that P 30,001

and above their cost of living monthly are from U.A.E, while 16 or 42.11% amount P 25,001 to

P 30,000 of cost of living monthly which is the highest are the combination of respondents

working remotely from India and Philippine countries and the lowest, 10 or 26.31% percent of

the respondents are from Benin and India people’s who’s living independently.

While for the Pediatric Services, data collected was equally distributed between the

amount of P 30,000 and above and P 25,001 to P 30,000 respectively.

Part 2: Awareness of the Respondents on Remote Working

18
 To gather data on the awareness of working remotely, researcher make sure that the

participants have experienced / working from now remotely. The information provided by the

participants that are mostly similar / related was presented in tables.

Table 8: Q1: Are the remote working policies in your company are clear?

Number of Respondents
Items
F %

Yes 43 86 %

No 7 14 %

Total 50 100 %

Table 8 which have the question if the remote working policies in the company are clear,

out of the 50 respondents, 43 or 86% answered “Yes” that the policies of the company in remote

working are clear while there’s 7 or 14% who answered “No” which is this people are mostly

new employees and first time working remotely.

Table 9: Q2: Do you feel there is adequate communication from your teammates? And team
leader?

Number of Respondents
Items
F %

Yes 46 92 %

No 4 8%

Total 50 100 %

19
 Higher number of respondents answered that they feel there is adequate communication

from the teammates and leader, 46 or 92% while 4 or 8% answered that there are no enough

communication between co-workers and the managers.

On the two companies that the survey happened, the companies used the platform

“Slack”, “Trello” and “WhatsApp” for their communication and to report the progress of their

work.

Table 10: Q3: Is it easy to reach your teammates and team leaders when you need them?

Number of Respondents
Items
F %

Yes 50 100 %

No 0 0%

Total 50 100 %

Table 10 shows that 50 or 100% of the respondents said it is easy to reach their

teammates and team leaders when they need them and have any queries regarding work.

Using “Slack” and “Trello” as a tool for communication in remote working, helps big

time in a company since it strengthens the engagement of the employees from each other. And

“slack” has a feature called “Donut” on which every week you’ll be automatically paired up with

your co-worker to have a “10 to 20 minutes” one on one meeting, talking about something which

is outside of the work area. While “Trello” helps the management and employees to keep

updated on the work and its progress certain employee doing.

20
Table 11: Q4: Do you feel you have a good work – life balance?

Number of Respondents
Item
F %

Yes 50 100 %

No 0 0%

Total 50 100 %

Table 11 shows that all of the respondent working remotely have an good work – life

balance even though they are not going to office to work and they just meet their co-worker

through video call.

Table 12: Q5: Have you established a good work routine?

Number of Respondent
Item
F %

Yes 38 76 %

No 12 24 %

Total 50 100 %

In question those if the respondents have established a good work routine, 38 or 76%

answered that have a good work routine while the remaining 12 or 24% still finding out on how

to have a good work routine.

21
Table 13: Respondents Feel about Remote Working
Questions Consultancy Service
(15 pax)
1. How do you feel about “It’s a big change of career, at
working remotely? first I was really hesitant and
have lots of doubt if this setup
will work for me.”
The CEO of the company said
that “It is really quite
frightening to transition in
remote working in times of
pandemic, especially when
most of the business here in
Dubai stops operating and the
border is closed. Potential
client goes down drastically,
but I can say that we manage
to be successful in
transitioning from the
traditional office set up to a
remote working set up.”
While the Managing Director
Pediatric Service
(10 pax)
One of the nurses said that
“Our type of business is
Clinic, that’s why it’s kinda
hard working from home. All
the therapy sessions, I think
video calling is not enough.
Face to face counseling and
sessions are still better.”
“.It’s problematic at first; I
don’t know what will be the
next step after we decided to
work from home. All the
supposed school and hospital
visits got postponed, that’s
why I got disappointed a bit.”
22
 said that “I started to think
differently while fully
grasping the remote working
set up. I shift to a new mindset
and of course no more traffic
going to the office now.”

2. What is your biggest “Internet connection. Most of
struggle as a remote the employees here in the
worker? Philippines started to work
from home and the classes
also were through online,
internet connection is
unstable. One time I am
presenting my screen and all
of a sudden my internet
connection is lost. It is
frustrating.”
“How to handle the patient
and I need to develop a new
program which can be done
online and face to face
meeting is not needed.”
“To keep myself motivated
because I’m more of an
outdoor person. I prefer going
to the office every day.”

“My main struggle is the time

difference; we’re 4 hours
ahead of the UAE time. Our
work starts at 12 noon until
10:30 pm, but at night I got
easily sleepy maybe because
of my age.”

23
 The information gathered from the interview done by the researcher to some of the

respondents proved that the initial feeling they felt was uneasiness and doubt if this will work

and if they can cope up with the new work environment. Some respondents mentioned several

benefits when it comes to remote working such as it increases time to focus on work and you can

develop a new business strategy. Additionally, when employees work from different locations,

they tend to have less conflict with their colleagues. When employees get better along with their

colleagues, it can also make them more effective workers and is likely to boost their positive

attitude towards their work in general. (Johnson, 2019).

When it comes to remote working, there are also some disadvantages considering job

satisfaction. Working from different locations and communicating with colleagues only online,

may decrease employees’ feeling of belongingness and instead make them feel isolated from

each other. Remote working can increase the threshold for employees to share their negative

feelings such as worry. Remote working may also raise concerns among employees regarding

security, such as data leakage and other safety risks. Employees might also consider their

possibilities to grow inside the organization and proceed on their careers as smaller. (Mullen,

2017).

Remote work can also bring new challenges when employees must work from their

homes. They can find it hard to find the balance between working time and free time.

Additionally, some employees can lack space at their home and if they have kids at home, it may

come across as a challenge to find a quiet and suitable workspace for working parents.

(Guantario, 2020)

Table 14: Employees Engagement in Remote Working

24
 Questions Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

(15 pax) (10 pax)

1. Do you feel as “First to three months was “I can say yes, even though
productive at home as okay, but as it goes longer I it’s hard at first but now I can
you are at the office? feel burnout. That’s why I say I manage it well.”
decided to take two days leave
and go to a new place which is
stress free. And now, I can say
I am productive while working
at home same as I am in the “I’ve been able to do more
office.” work and focus more on
working at home. No need for
long hours to commute for
work and it gives more hours
for family and myself.”
“Yes. Actually our set up right
now, it brings much pressure.
Unlike going to the office,
your co-workers will see you
doing work, but with remote
work you will just see each
other through video call
meetings. I can say that I am
productive in remote working
especially because we do have
the communication platform
and tools to support us from
work.”

2. Do you feel you’ve “I learn to manage my time
been able to learn and and work effectively even
grow in the last few though no one was looking on
months? what I am doing. I also attend
so many webinars on which
UAE offers.”
“Yes. Learn and grow as a
professional and also on my
personal life. I’ve been able to
adapt quickly on the change of
environment.”

25
 “Last few months, was hard
for all of us. Pandemic
happened, but look at us, still
in the run. So yes, I learn so
much and grow as well.”

There are several benefits when it comes to remote working such as it can increase the

job satisfaction since remote working possibility is an appreciated quality among employees and

make them more effective workers. Employees may appreciate the flexibilities that remote

working offers. For example, employees who have small children or work as part-time

employees, can benefit from having more autonomy in organizing their schedules. The increased

job satisfaction may help organizations to retain their employees for a longer time, which is

beneficial for both parties. (Michael & Smith, 2015)

Work motivation is a psychological process which springs from an individual’s being but

also from his or her environment and affects in their work-related behavior. There are numerous

of things that have an impact on work motivation such as national culture, job design and person-

environment fit. (Latham & Pinder, 2005)

By ensuring its employees high work motivation, organizations can benefit in the long

run. Work motivation usually increases among employees when the work environment is need-

supportive which offers employees need satisfaction. Due to increased motivation, employees’

performance will remain on an optimal level and it will also improve their wellbeing. Work

motivation and employees’ wellbeing are two significant values for any organization and

strongly linked to each other. Therefore, it is important for organizations to take care of their

26
employees’ work motivation which can support their wellbeing as well. (Olafsen;Deci;&

Halvari, 2018)

On the other hand, research has shown that work-life balance of women can increase due

to remote working. When women can work from their homes, they have more time 5 to spend

with their families due to increased flexibility and without transitions from home to workplace.

Increased work-life balance prevents depression among women which supports their wellbeing

as well as ability to work in a long period time. (Grant;Wallace;& Spurgeon, 2013)

Table 15: Communication in Remote Working

Consultancy Service Pediatric Service

Questions
(15 pax) (10 pax)

1. Do you have all the “We’re using Slack and Trello “Our main line of
equipment and remote as our tools in remote communication is WhatsApp.
tools you need to working. It helps a lot, Slack We also have Slack.”
complete your work to is like an enhanced version of
your usual ability? a version that is very useful in
work.”

“I can say I have all the tools

and equipment needed in
remote work.”
“Yes. Aside from Google
hangouts, we are also using
Slack and Trello. WhatsApp
messaging is a big help too.”

In remote working there is a smaller risk that external factors such as extreme weather

conditions would prevent employees from working since they are working from their homes,

27
whereas weather conditions could prevent employees from coming to the office. Remote

working possibility offers more flexibility in the daily work life if the employees want to

reschedule their days or if there are external factors that prohibit people from going outside and

practice social distancing such as global pandemic situations. In extreme situations such as

during a pandemic, it is a significant benefit for an organization if it can provide remote work

possibility for its workers. In that way organizations can continue their operations through

difficult times and avoid dramatic financial losses that a total suspension of the operations could

cause. (Quicke, 2009) For employees who in normal circumstances would walk or ride a bicycle

their way to work or at least part of the way, a shift to remote working may decrease their

physical activity significantly. For some employees, commuting to their workplace, may be the

only exercise during the day and remote working may eliminate all the physical activity of their

workdays. In a long run this can cause negative impacts in employees’ wellbeing and ability to

work. To avoid employees’ declining condition, it would be beneficial for organizations to

encourage their employees to exercise during breaks and stay active although they are working

from home.

CONCLUSION

28
 Contrary to general preconceptions, employees are usually more effective and motivated

when they can work remotely. According to one study, employees are happy with remote

working since the majority of the respondents could not think of returning to work at the office.

Additionally, only a minority of them thought that remote working will have an impact on their

career progression. (Kuehner-Hebert, 2019) When remote work is done right, it can increase the

productivity of employees and support their work-life balance. Remote work is a modern way of

working that gives employees more autonomy and the 7 freedom to choose the time and place

where they want to work instead of having formal schedules and limitations to work from a

certain location. (Murphy, 2017) Although, remote working saves employees’ time since they do

not have to travel between their homes and offices to work, the given flexibility might not

directly have a positive impact on their productivity. Research has shown that remote workers

and workers who have more flexible working hours do not receive as much training and

mentoring as their colleagues. Additionally, if there are colleagues in the same company that

work at the office, remote workers might easily be left out from their social activities as well as

knowledge shared among on-site workers. It might also differentiate employees into different

groups, create inequality and decrease the feeling of togetherness. When information does not

reach all employees and the atmosphere among employees degenerates, it can have negative

impacts on employee productivity as well. (Graziano, 2016) However, it is up to employers

themselves that are pursuing remote work in their companies, to make sure that remote work

does not harm productivity or create inequality in among employees.

Remote work modifies employees’ workdays in many ways – it eliminates the

spontaneous discussions and face-to-face communication with colleagues, however

simultaneously, it can decrease disruptions and social interaction. Since employees are working

29
from different locations, it is important that they communicate regularly with their team

members and managers. By organizing regular video conferencing meetings, employees can

have a lower threshold to open about their problems and worries and it can increase their feeling

of belonging in their team. (Raizman, 2020) In remote work, employees are not able to share

their feelings such as frustrations to their colleagues in the same way as in non-remote work.

Some employees may have more responsibilities while they are working from home such as

taking care of their 9 family members and household tasks. The need for multitasking may

decrease their ability to focus and cause them more stress. It can also cause them feelings of

inadequacy, which can in a long term, impact negatively on their mental health. All in all, remote

working can bring new challenges and hardships for employees, and therefore, it could be useful

for organizations to prioritize their employees’ health and wellbeing. In that way organizations

could show how much they care and support their employees’ mental health and ability to work.

(Wynter, 2020)

RECOMMENDATION

30
 In light of the findings, the following are recommended:

1. Leaders Supporting Employees’ Motivation - When it comes to motivation within

remote working, leaders are in a key role to make sure their employees stay motivated.

Regardless of the location where employees work, and even if they work alone and

communicate with their colleagues only through phone calls, emails and video

conferencing technology. The best way for leaders to support their employees in remote

working is to give them autonomy and show trust towards them, however, giving them

clear guidance in order to make them feel organized and effective, and maintaining close

relationships and open communication.

2. Employee Monitoring - While remote working is becoming more and more usual,

organizations are also tracking their employees’ behavior and actions. There are

differences between organizations, some of them go to extremes and therefore, it is

important to question at what point employees’ privacy has become invaded. For

example, a data-analytics company Humanyze has gone to extremes with their tracking –

the company tracks the locations, records the conversations and constantly the calendars

and emails of their employees. The company believes that since businesses today are

data-driven also the employees should be.

There are different monitoring software programs available that track employees

and their performance whether they were working on-site or remotely. This tracking is

executed to ensure equal quality of employees’ work regardless of their location for the

benefit of business outcomes. However, some workers consider that monitoring software

programs cause invasion of their privacy. Therefore, it is important that organizations

31
 consider carefully whether it is necessary to invest in monitoring software and that the

tracking is made legally respecting employees’ privacy.

3. Trust Between Employers and Employees - Trust is a key factor in a healthy

relationship between an organization and an employee, and if that trust cracks, it can be

difficult or even impossible to rebuild or replace it. Increased use of monitoring systems

can also decrease the communication between a manager and their employees which can

decrease empathy and inhumanity between them, employers will spend more time on

analyzing employee data instead of listening their employees’ opinions. In a long term

this can weaken the relationships and the trust within an organization and decrease

employees’ job satisfaction. (Bader, 2019) Usually sharing private information can bring

people closer to each other, however, if a mutually agreed privacy limit is exceeded that

can easily create negative feelings and break the trust between an employee and an

organization. Additionally, research has shown that continuous employee monitoring in

an organization increases psychological concerns among employees. Since remote

working is becoming more usual it would be beneficial for organizations to concentrate

on how they can build the trust between their employees especially in remote working.

The relationship between a manager and an employee differs quite a lot whether they are

working at the same office or from different locations. Trust can be divided in two

different types; cognition-based and affect-based trust. The first one applies to

demonstrated competence and responsibility and therefore, it is based more 16 on facts

and measures, whereas, the second type refers to emotional bonds between individuals

such as genuine caring about each other.

32
 REFERENCES:

Covid 19 and the Workspace: Implications, Issues and Insights for Future Research and Action

https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/20-127_6164cbfd-37a2-489e-8bd2-

c252cc7abb87.pdf

Evaluating the Impact of Working from Home on Productivity and Work Life Balance

https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/evaluating-impact-working-home-

productivity-and-work-life-balance-china

Impacts of Remote Work Environment and Supporting Technology

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162458175.pdf

Remote Working: Personality and Performance Research Results

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b045109c258b4052b14cd0d/t/5e28792a6b8c1a13

0743bec1/1579710768235/Remote+Working+-

+Personality+and+Performance+Research+Results.pdf

Slack: (Remote Working Tools which my company is using)

https://app.slack.com/client/T2EJZ28TE/C2EKCP6LX

Trello: (Remote Working Tools which my company is using)

https://trello.com/gracenocos/boards

33
 APPENDIX

Name: Civil Status:

Monthly Income: Gender:
Position: Age: Country:

Please put a check on the box for your answer.

Yes No

1. Are the remote working policies in your company are clear?

2. Do you feel there is adequate communication from your teammates

And team leaders?

3. Is it easy to reach your teammates and team leaders when you need them?

4. Do you feel you have a good work – life balance?

5. Have you established a good work routine?

Why question.

1. How do you feel about working from home?

2. What is your biggest struggle as a remote worker?

3. Do you feel as productive at home as you are at the office?

4. Do you feel you’ve been able to learn and grow in the last few months?

5. Do you have all the equipment and remote tools you need to complete your work to your

usual ability?

34