Abstract

At the outset, it can be said that the explosion of the Covid-19 pandemic ignites change for
businesses not only in the economy but also in their internal working environment. To be
specific, the issue of workplace transformation is no longer a farfetched topic for worldwide
businesses, even start-up ones during the COVID-19 era. Vietnam, as one of the first countries
to be affected by COVID-19, made outstanding progress in transforming workspaces to benefit a
professional environment that utilizes innovation accelerators to achieve business outcomes
during the pandemic. Therefore, the intention of this paper is to mainly delve into how the
Covid-19 pandemic drives the transformation of the business workplace and provide an
explication of what policies the business can apply as well as a myriad of employees’ feedback.
Data was chiefly obtained from a group of employees’ perspectives and documentation through
a survey. For the significance of the paper, these findings not only advance understanding of
business policies such as new management methods, new digital platforms, and new employees’
benefit programs but also offer useful recommendations to accelerate existing problems in
redesigning the working environment. As a result, it can be proven that workplace modification
might play a pivotal role in changing business for the better sharply in the Covid-19 period.
 I. Introduction
In this contemporary society, it can be said that driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, the world of
work has undergone constant change over the last three years. Whether Covid-19 has
exponentially exploded, undeniably, has an immense impact on the operation of organizations.
This evidence shows that, despite the fact that the pandemic nearly paralyzed the global
economy, it significantly aided the development of the digital industry. To be specific, across the
world, the wave of the Covid-19 epidemic is now stacking up massive case counts even in
regions that had previously managed to keep the illness under control. Born in China, the Asia
region was first influenced by Covid, which unexpectedly deteriorated the economies of both
China and the world as a whole. According to Umair Irfan, a report in March 2022 stated that
mainland pandemic explosions are also occurring in China's main cities, such as Shanghai,
placing millions of people on lockdown and disrupting output in important manufacturing hubs.
Hong Kong presently witnesses the highest disease-related mortality rate in the world. There are
rampant overburdened hospitals and rocketing mental health crises, particularly among the
elderly. Otherwise, in Vietnam, government policies about distancing society put the national
economy in danger. Industries from agricultural to aviation are deleteriously jeopardized,
especially tourism, with a loss of around 6-7 billion USD in three months (BBC, 2020).
Numerous corporations, both large and small, almost could not cope with this situation, where
workflow, as well as employees, might be negatively impacted leading to a dip in revenues,
profit, and so on. Therefore, it can be said that it is high time for businesses to flexibly make
adjustments in accordance with the current digital economy from changes in products or services
to changes in logistics. One of which, most significantly, is workplace transformation after being
under the influence of Covid-19. As far as workplace transformation in the pandemic era is
concerned, it is no longer a far-fetched topic for worldwide businesses, even start-up ones.
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how Small and Medium enterprises overcome
the Covid-19 period by transforming the workplace and staff feedback through a survey. Turning
to details, take Vietnamese businesses as a choice to shed light on their workplace modifications.
The main contents of this paper encompass the following: introduction, main findings,
recommendations, reflection, and conclusion.
 II. Methodology
This study demonstrates the survey of workplace transformation in the period of Covid-19 within
SME businesses. In the initial stage, 40 participants from different organizations will be
randomly selected for surveying to ensure fairness. For the first stage of collecting data, this
study mainly applies the combination of qualitative methods including open-ended questions,
and quantitative methods including questionnaires, and closed questions. Firstly, an online
questionnaire in Google Form will be used where staff will be required to answer sixteen
questions, consisting of eight multiple-choice questions, three ranking questions, and three open-
ended questions from name to business achievement. There are two sections in the survey,
including a section for background information on participants and a section for questionnaires
about workplace transformation. In detail, three first questions, including name, age, and gender,
will be asked for respondents’ background. Subsequently, the topic of workplace transformation
in the Covid-19 period will be divided into four sections, including management, digital
platforms, employee benefits programs, and reflection. All responses will be documented for
data analysis so the data can be reused for later research. In the following step-data analysis, the
main method used is quantitative analysis with a specific rate for each question.
 III. Findings
The participants of this study consists of 40 staff in separated positions in different organizations
which is randomly selected for implementing survey. The final outcome would be divided into
three segmentations including reality, perspective and reflection as follows:

1. Reality

Figure 1. List of most significant changes in your workplace

The diagram provides information on which adjustments have significantly changed in the
workplace. A general picture is that digital platforms and communication are the two factors
most sharply influencing management.

To be specific, changes in digital platforms and communication take the lead, which are
responsible for 40,7% of the respondents. By comparison, management considerably changes,
which takes up around 33,3%, followed by employees’ benefits program and others, with 25,9%
and 7,4%, respectively. Strikingly, the figures of digital platforms and communication enjoy the
same share, which indicates that communication and digital platforms in work are of equal
importance for enterprises during the Covid-19 era.
 Figure 2. List of most significant change in management in transformation

The table illustrates a host of considerate management changes in the era of Covid-19 within the
working environment. In general, leadership overwhelmingly outweighs other factors in
management, from communication to the review process. Turning to details, the adjustment in
leadership stands at about 62,5%, which almost doubles the communication factor.
Notwithstanding that communication and digital working make significant changes within the
entire workplace, they might not create notable features in management, which are only
responsible for 40,6% and 34,4%, respectively. By contrast, the factors of work assignment and
digital working almost stand at the bottom of this list with the same share of 28,1%, followed by
other factors with 12,5%. Therefore, it can be said that leaders concerned with influencing and
motivating employees in internal workplaces have created a different roadmap for the entire
workforce.
 Figure 3. List of most significant digital platforms in transformation

The chart depicts the rate at which digital platforms strongly impact businesses, including social
media, email, websites, apps, and so on. The diagram shows that social media would be most
consumed by 25 out of 34 participants, which takes up 75,8% in detail. The percentage shows
the prevalence of social media used in the professional environment due to its undeniable
benefits, such as amenities and convenience. By contrast, email, websites, and apps witness
a trifling discrepancy with 39.4%; 36.4%; and 33.3%, respectively, which demonstrates that their
application in the workplace might be commonplace but not significant factors influencing
workplace transformation. Meanwhile, there are other platforms that have entered into business
operations, which occupy 3% only. Interestingly, it can be shown that the pattern of social media
nearly doubles that of others, such as email, apps, and so on.
 Figure 4. List of most significant employees’ benefit programs in transformation

Two charts illustrate different benefit programs provided by the company as well as the level of
effectiveness as a result of these programs. As can be seen, it is undisputed that healthcare
schemes, job increments, and fewer working hours are three methods that have the most
influential impact on employees. On the other hand, the number of employees choosing holidays
or different options accounts for a smaller percentage.

To be more precise, respondents who agreed that healthcare programs should be included in the
list made up 60%, which was equal to 15 votes. Subsequently, job increment and reduced
working hours jointly stood at the second position with 11 answers, which was also equivalent to
44%. Entertainment came next, at the third position with just one answer less than two former
methods, followed by work assignment with nine votes in total. In the scope of the survey, only
six respondents claimed that the way their companies provided employees with holidays is
significant to them. At the same time, only two people chose other answers that were not listed in
the answer box.
2. Perspective

Figure 5. The rate of effectiveness in new approaches

The table indicates the effectiveness rate of new management methods obtained from employees.
At the onset, it is clear that whether the business made adjustments in management might be
highly evaluated by their employees, with the highest rank of 2 equaling to 39.4%, which means
nearly high, and the second rank of 1 (High) with 24.3% By contrast, the ranking of 5 (Low)
witnessed no engagement, which indicates that new approaches might operate smoothly and
strongly motivate staff throughout the period of Covid-19.

Figure 6. The rate of effectiveness in new digital platforms

The chart provides information on the employees’ evaluation of to what extent new platforms
effectively transformed their organization. A general picture is that new digital platforms
have both merits and demerits.
In detail, 38.2% of respondents assess the ranking of effectiveness at 1(High), followed by
4(Nearly low) with 20.6%. As can be seen in the diagram, notwithstanding showing positive
feedback, several disagreements do exist through the rank of 5 with 11.8%. Therefore, it can be
said that the issue might come from the problems of disconnection in conveying information
within online meetings, several mistakes in online timekeeping system, etc.

Figure 7. The rate of effectiveness in new benefit programs

The above chart reflects the employees’ perception in terms of the effectiveness level of these
new approaches. In general, the number of positive answers (level 1 and level 2) is higher than
those people thinking new approaches do not bring any effectiveness. However, the differences
between these two groups are not significant.

Going into detail, the number of employees who supposed that these methods bring positive
results (level 2) accounted for 31.3% of the total respondents, which was equivalent to 10
answers. However, those having opposite thoughts came next with eight people, equaling 25%.
Nevertheless, there are seven people who believe that these new practices absolutely lead to
outstanding results. At the same time, there are five employees who do not see the significance
of those efforts, and only two respondents claim that these changes are utterly ineffective for
their workplace productivity.
All in all, it can undeniable that application of new modifications has advantages over
disadvantages by the presented high rank collected from business workers. These changes are
the contributor to corporate accomplishments such as viable profit, better work-life balance, and
so forth.

3. Reflection
Figure 8. Business challenges in the period of transformation

The illustration sheds light on challenges that businesses encountered during the transformation
era. As can be seen, the top-of-mind concern with business would be crisis management with
51.5% due to the fact that the blooming of Covid-19 might be unpredictable and unintended
leading to a sudden change in society. Whether businesses faced a sudden change in society
would be a real struggle for businesses to control immediately. Besides, the economic challenges
such as revenue, profit, budget, and so on stand at the second position with 48.5%. This most
possible ground can be the factor of the economy contributes to business growth while
government policies about social distancing or lockdown in the severe period might restrict
business distribution, especially tourism across the country. It might be the contributor to the
petrifying economy of enterprises, both large ones and start-ups, and even Vietnam as a whole.
As the diagram suggests, transformation in the workplace also does harm to corporate culture
and workflow with around 45.5%, followed by healthcare with 24.2%. The result shows that
above the issue of health, the factor involving organization culture such as code of conduct,
values, and so on is more challenging due to the fact that the business chaos might sparks
miscommunication, misbehaviors in workplace, which is extremely hard to control. Moreover,
after encountering proliferating changes in Covid-19 pandemic, employees need to perform more
difficult tasks to handle the stable status of business, especially in economy.

In contrast, the issue of security stands at the bottom of the list, which occupies 15.2% of the
total, followed by other challenges with only 6.1%.

Figure 9. The best element significantly transforming your business

The pie chart above shows employees’ views on the most critical factors driving change in their
organization. Overall, digital platforms and communications are two elements that have the most
impact on the way people work. On the other hand, almost no employee have a different answer
than the available options.

As already indicated in the chart, digital platforms and communication are the two most
significant factors leading to the organization’s innovation (33.3% of the respondents). Next,
18,2% is the percentage of employees choosing those benefit programs that have brought several
influences to their working pattern, followed by management reasons with 12.1%. These reasons
seem to have comprehensively covered the main factors leading to changes in the workplace
when almost no employee gave a different answer.
 IV. Recommendations

From the above analysis of findings, there is a myriad of recommendations obtained from
employees that should be given attention. The first suggestion is regarding management,
business should diversify methods on a regular basis to improve employees’ adaptability as well
as their skills.

As far as digital platforms are concerned, it can be suggested that whether a business sets up an
exclusive website might wreak havoc on the company budget without its necessity. Instead of
that, enterprises should utilize existing and popular apps and websites to cut time and costs.
Consider Zoom, and Microsoft’s Teams as salient examples for online meetings.

The third recommendation concern with lack of fairness in employee benefit programs. It can be
suggested that managers should ensure employees’ privileges are in line with equity and clarity.
It might be set up to be available for general employees, which might avoid internal conflicts and
reduce job satisfaction.

V. Reflection

After a long process of presenting and carrying out plans, there are a myriad of accomplishments
as well as struggles that I encountered. It might be not only a challenging task but also an
opportunity for my self-actualization, which are priceless lessons to take with me in the long
run.

Regarding attained accomplishments, I have successfully completed work output that I had
planned such as the practice of data collection as well as data analysis with punctual submission
and sufficient data.

However, with the lack of experience and skills in mastering project plans, it might be essential
to make several adjustments to ensure my plan runs smoothly and on time. By contrast, several
risks due to my lack of professionalism do exist during the data collection process. To be
specific, the first issue is that the monetary factors like project budgeting plans had not been put
into consideration before I took action. Therefore, throughout the process, I have encountered
unexpected budget restrictions, especially in the data collection stage. It might lead to a lack of
respondents’ accountability, which wreaks havoc on work output while rich information from a
group of staff is the top priority to advance understanding of workplace transformation in a
work-related context. As well as that, communication risk leads to limited engagement of
respondents which is a culprit of poor plan implementation. One of the biggest risks is that my
project might not be prepared with risk management plans. Therefore, I almost have insufficient
ability to cover finance, schedule, as well as the respondent’s performance.

Aside from unintended risk, only after I started implementing the project did I undergo a series
of challenges. The first is a limitation in interpersonal skills. It might be a real struggle to
approach and convince business staff to engage in the survey without professionals in
socialization. This evidence can be in the first few days, I witnessed numerous refusal letters and
even no reply from businesses. After inviting a sufficient number of respondents, I faced a larger
challenge in determining a transparent method to ensure that all participants are involved in the
process. Furthermore, whether an objective is set up without clarity is the catalyst for unclear
direction for creating questionnaires and segmenting participants. It jeopardizes the quality of
work outcome as well as ensures work is in line with regulations and given deadlines.
Concerning data analysis skills, I have not had much experience, so a top-of-mind challenge is
my writing skills and diagram analyzing skills.

In order to overcome these difficulties, I have researched and implemented a myriad of adequate
solutions. To improve the breakdown in communications, I require support from experienced
seniors as well as several pieces of software to facilitate communications. With the aim of
specifying project objectives, setting up a new objective with the support of SMART technique
(Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Relevant- Time-bound) creates a greater condition for easily
running plans. For instance, instead of "focusing on large businesses" in my initial project
objective, I have changed focus to Vietnamese SME businesses and even university or school
clubs. Moreover, project plans would be broken into project milestones with review tests after
each completion period. According to my observation, the best way to enhance academic skills
like writing skills and data analysis is to divide them into three parts for each diagram, including
overview, category, evaluating, striking feature, and summarizing. By virtue of that, I clearly
define the main topic of the chart, emphasize important figures such as the highest and the
lowest, and recapitulate the main findings. Therefore, it does wonders for clarifying change in
workplace transformation through clear percentage and analysis. Owing to a myriad of
adjustments, the direction of my work got derailed but I still attained the work outcomes as
expected. For instance, my project objectives were adjusted to set a focus on SMEs compared to
large companies initially, which totally provided different directions for the plan. By virtue of
that, I collected useful information with an easier approach to attain project objective “Setting
focus on change in workplace in the period of Covid-19”. Moreover, one of first objectives is
"Data collection and analysis about changes through public information like revenues " but then,
it might be adequate to require domestic information like employees’ opinions to clarify the main
topic instead of public information. Therefore, I have changed the objective for a better
understanding and clarity.

Not only for project growth, but I have also practiced and learned lessons to foster my skills,
such as interpersonal skills. It can be undeniable that communication is the project manager’s
greatest asset, so if I have a chance to enhance my socialization, it might help me for future
effective projects. As well, enhancing writing skills is a useful tool for facilitating the data
analysis process in future projects. Importantly, whether a project consists of a risk management
plan plays an indispensable role in obtaining objectives without controlling numerous
unexpected issues. Therefore, essentially, devising backup plans and focusing on the factors of
"finance, schedule, and performance" is one of the most important preparations for effective
project management.
 VI. Conclusion
In recapitulation, I am convinced that workplace transformation plays an indispensable role in
overcoming the volatility of Covid-19 pandemic. A myriad of transformations in management
methods, digital platforms, and employees’ benefit programs are highly evaluated, which
significantly exert a positive impact on operating business throughout the Covid-19 era.
Undeniably, aside from the challenges that businesses have to encounter, it might be a turning
point for enterprises' development due to the fact that innovation is the key to success. Thanks to
investigating business actions in modifying workspaces for employees from management
methods, digital platforms, employees’ benefit programs, and so on, we expect that the final
outcome might contribute to advance understanding of practical business policies with objective
evaluations and difficulties in the implementation process.
 VII. Reference list
Kissflow.com. 2022. 9 Project Management Challenges and How to Overcome Them. [online] Available
at: <https://kissflow.com/project/project-management-challenges/> [Accessed 3 June 2022].

BBC News Tiếng Việt. 2020. Dịch Covid-19: 'Việt Nam đang chịu tổn thất về kinh tế' - BBC News Tiếng
Việt. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/business-51605423> [Accessed 4 June
2022].

Kashyap, S., 2020. 10 Common Challenges in Project Management (and How to Solve Them). [online]
Proofhub.com. Available at: <https://www.proofhub.com/articles/project-management-challenges>
[Accessed 3 June 2022].

Indeed Career Guide. 2022. 10 Common Project Risks (Plus the Steps To Solve Them). [online] Available
at: <https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/project-risks> [Accessed 3 June 2022].

study.com. 2022. Project Risk Management. [online] Available at:

<https://study.com/learn/lesson/project-risk-management-types-examples-process.html> [Accessed 5
June 2022].

VIII. Appendices

PROJECT LOG BOOK

 QUESTIONNAIRE
1. What is your name?

Short answer

2. What is your gender?

 Male

 Female

3. What is your age group? (You can choose more than 1 answer)

 19-26

 27-35

 36-55

 >56 (Please specify the reasons):

4. What are significant changes in workplace transformation?

 Management ------ Go to Section 1

 Digital platforms ------ Go to Section 2

 Employees’ benefit program ------ Go to Section 3

 Communication

 Others

______________________________________________________________

SECTION 1: Transformation in Management

1. What are most significant change in management? (You can choose more than 1 answer)

 Communication

 Leadership
  Work assignment

 Review process

 Digital working

 Others

2. What is the degree of effectiveness of new management approaches?

High Low

1 2 3 4 5

_______________________________________________________________

SECTION 2: Transformation in Digital platforms

1. What are most significant change in digital platforms? (You can choose more than 1
answer)

 Social media

 Email

 Website

 Apps

 Others

2. What is the degree of effectiveness of new platforms?

High Low

1 2 3 4 5

_______________________________________________________________

SECTION 3: Transformation in Employees’ benefit programs

1. What are most significant change in benefit programs? (You can choose more than 1
answer)

 Job increment

 Healthcare

 Entertainment

 Work assignment

 Holidays

 Reduced hours

 Others

2. What is the degree of effectiveness of new management approaches?

High Low

1 2 3 4 5

____________________________________________________________

SECTION 4: Reflection

1. What challenge did your business face to in the period of transformation? (You can choose
more than 1 answer)

 Healthcare

 Security

 Corporate culture

 Economics

 Workflow

 Crisis management
  Others

2. What is the best element significantly changing your business?

 Management methods

 Digital platforms

 Communication

 Employees’ benefit programs

 Others

3. What are your recommendations for business improvement?

Short answer