1. Introduction
The selected topic for the study is the “impact of Covid 19 on the work-life of the employees as well as the employers due to the shift of work to remote working”. The Covid 19 pandemic has crucially shifted the way employees and employers work and live, which might have negative consequences as well as potential “positive shifts” in the daily working life of individuals from every sector and industry. Therefore, this study will examine the perceived as well as the overall and actual impact of the global pandemic on the different aspects of working life of the individuals such as “Self-rated health (SRH)”, “Mental well-being (MWB)” and many more.
It was on “January 30, 2020” when the “World Health Organization (WHO)” declared Covid 19 outbreak as a global pandemic also a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)”. The deadly virus started spreading worldwide and forced the governments to enforce lockdown and restriction measures for curbing the transmission rates as well as to prevent the overloading of the hospitals. Consequently, a huge population of workers from the commercial sector had to face drastic and staggering changes in their daily working life. The Covid 19 crisis had a large impact on the health life of the common public as working conditions began to deteriorate and led to the employees and employers facing mental health issues such as anxiety, stress and depression.
A“Research Question” is “a question that a researcher sets out to answer through their research project”. To develop a research question, it is necessary to determine the type of study that will be conducted like mixed, quantitative or qualitative. A good “Research Question” requires “original data, synthesis of multiple sources, interpretation and/or arguments” for providing an effective answer.
2. Reviewing key literature and theoretical background of the topic of investigation
It has been learned that Covid 19 pandemic has radically changed the working life and lifestyle of the individuals involved in the commercial and business sector across the globe. As per the view of Schieman et al. (2021), most of the countries observed restrictive measures for implementing effective measures to curb the uprising of the transmissions due to human contact. The restrictions made were the closing of essential as well as leisure facilities such as “schools, markets, restaurants, nonessential shops, bars, entertainment”. As per the view of Hennekam et al. (2021), the governments were forced to impose a ban on private as well as public events and gatherings. Consequently, a large part of the working population had to face drastic and staggering changes in everyday life. Individuals having a rich social life as well as the ones with lower standards of life was all affected and had to work from home or were kept on hold.
It has been learned from the available literary sources that a large group of employees were laid off or “furloughed”, as many industries and businesses had to be shut down due to the closure of the travel facilities and lockdown restrictions. In addition to this, it was observed that the health workers in the health sector had to face a staggering increase and workload pressure in their job. This was due to the flood of affected cases that was hitting every other city in the world and this led to creating heavy workload pressure on the essential employees and the frontline warriors who were entrusted with the role and duty to serve in emergencies. In many cases, the health workers had to work extra hours without any break, sometimes-straight 24 hours without any sleep in between. It was reported that in many cases, the essential workers like health workers or the ones assigned duties of management of operations were forced to work out of their working hours. As per the view of İlkkaracan and Memiş (2021), these several factors with changed working conditions led to causing mental health as well as physical health-related issues in the frontline workers. This issue was not limited to only any one sector or industry but in most of the businesses and professions.
As per a report, about “30%” of the employees worldwide have claimed that their private, as well as the work-life balance, has worsened. However, only “10%” reported advancements in their work-life and “13%” improvements in their private life (Biomedcentral.com, 2021). Several studies have suggested that the working conditions and experiences of the employees and employers have deteriorated leading to mental health complications such as depression, stress and anxiety. Apart from this, studies have propagated that in particular, the most affected ones are those who have lost their job, women, individuals with “chronic disease”, and young adults (Schieman et al. 2021). It has been learned that the most common stressors among the lot which is highlighted by the research is the “fear of losing one’s job” and eventually the income. In addition to this, “conflicting messages from the authorities”, “social isolation” as well as the present state of prevailing uncertainty are described to be the main contributing factors to the emotional distress and deteriorating mental health of the individuals in the businesses. For instance, “British Airways” had to incur heavy losses as furloughed the majority of its employees to meet the operational costs and this, in turn, affected the mental health of its employees due to uncertainty around the employment.
A large portion of the individuals in businesses experienced “low levels of optimism”, “high levels of loneliness”, “insecurity regarding their jobs”, “insecurity regarding the future of their business”. It has been understood that the employees, as well as the employers, were considering “remote working” as a benefit before the outbreak of the pandemic as it followed the preferences of the lot. However, the lockdown restriction due to the outbreak of the deadly corona virus changed their preferences and perceptions as most of the administrators, workforce and managers were forced to work from home mandatorily. As per the view of Kotini-Shah et al. (2021), this came as a potential challenge for individuals with little or no WFH experience like “establishing new channels of communication with colleagues”, “managing boundaries between work and non-work”, “organizing the workspace”, as well as “coping with work isolation”. It is understood that there were insufficient resources for managing the challenges posed by WFH as well as little or no support from employers and colleagues. Therefore, this compulsory WFH started becoming a burden for most of the workforce and eventually affected the “well-being “of the workforce and decreased the efficiency of the workers as well.
Moreover, an increase in the “Work from home” is highlighted to be a “potential threat” for the parents with little infants at home. These groups of individuals have been had trouble in managing household chores, work duties and homeschooling. However, the latest situational crisis holds potential opportunities regarding “positive shifts” in the private life and work of the employees and the employers as well. As per the view of Möhring et al. (2021), a significant group of employees, as well as employers, has been identifying this situation as a career development potential opportunity by developing an effective approach to mitigate profound changes in working life. Workers have reported multiple advantages regarding “working from home” like “working more efficiently”, “saving time previously spent commuting”, “perceived control over the workday”. Overall, the workers have reported overall greater positive experiences as compared to negative experiences of work from home.
“Herzberg’s Motivation Theory”: this is one of the most renowned and effective theories of motivation and is also known as “two-factor content theory”. This theory is directed at explaining the factors which are motivating the individuals by identifying as well as satisfying the needs of the workforce, along with desires and aims that are to be pursued for satisfying these desires. It is significant in identifying the key “demotivators” and “motivators” in the organization. As per this theory, the organizations’ or the administrators can first identify the “demotivating factors” within the workplace as well as remove them. As per the view of Juchnowicz and Kinowska (2021), demotivating factors can be “toxic manager or employee, low compensation, poor work conditions, bad company policies” or even a mix-up of all these factors. Focusing on the job enrichment and motivational levels of the workers can be done by creating more engagement within the workplace. The organizations could as well give a platform and opportunity to the employees for putting up their ideas and views that will make the workers feel valued and eventually drive their performance and mental health.
“Work-life management theory”: As per this theory, “work-life management” is mainly focused on managing the work-life balance of the employees and employers by “autonomous self proactively”. This theory is known for assisting the practitioners in incorporating techniques based on pieces of evidence from “behavioral sciences”. As per the view of Snyder (2019), it is developed to be “coherent conceptually” and therefore, it gives greater significance to the working environment unlike several “individualistic approaches” to coaching. According to this theory, individuals can evaluate their behaviour, emotions, and thinking during the job as well as in accepting the conditions (Lai, 2018). The next process is nurturing the needs and being “authentic” to the personal values of the individuals. The following step is evaluating the individual goals; this overall process will be significant in enhancing the overall working experience of the employees in complex conditions of the job.
2.1 Research gap
The researchers have undertaken significant effort in this research to gather reliable and relevant data on the research topic of “changes in work-life during the Covid 19 pandemic as the work shifts to remote working (employees and employers perspective)” in multiple sectors, industries and businesses. Moreover, it has been found that there are few research gaps in the present research, as the methods used for collecting data on the research topic is “secondary data collection method” (Ulmer, 2017). The secondary data collection process is regarded as a research gap because it collects information solely from earlier research papers (Ragab and Arisha, 2018). Apart from this, the research has been conducted using use very few articles for gathering the data and this is seen as a major gap in the present research. It is concluded that conducting primary data collection sources could have assisted in providing more appropriate data to the future readers.
2.2 Research questions
RQ1: What are the perceived negative and positive impacts of the pandemic crisis on the work-life balance of the employees and the employers as well?
RQ2: What are the self-reported changes in the working life of the individuals that are associated with the negative or positive impact of the changed working conditions?
RQ3: What are the overall impacts of the changes in motivational and mental health levels of both employees and employers due to changes in working life experiences?
3. Research methodology
This research has been aligned by the research onion for developing effective steps for completion of the research in an effective way. The present research has secondary data collection methods for facilitating existing literature on the topic as the conduction of surveys and interviews was not possible due to the pandemic situation. As per the view of Ørngreen and Levinsen (2017), a research design is significant in assisting the research with clearing the concept of the topic by collecting data. Therefore, this research has been done by using an “explanatory research design” for providing relevant and in-depth information on the topic as well as explaining the reasons for the phenomenon regarding the issues. As per the view of Babii (2020), a research philosophy is regarded as the base of research that involves the selection of research strategy, data analysis and collection as well. It has been observed that the researchers have used “interpretivism philosophy” which is used in the secondary research method and is qualitative. “Interpretivism Philosophy” is all about an in-depth analysis of the factors and the variables related to the topic. As per the view of Fidahic et al. (2020), a research approach is an approach undertaken by the researchers for gaining broad assumptions for the selection of data analysis and collection process. The researchers have followed a “deductive research approach” for completing this research and providing appropriate knowledge on the research topic. It has been learned that the deductive research approach assists in collecting data from existing literary sources based on the chosen objectives (Phillips and Ritala, 2019).
Data collection is the process of gathering relevant data and information that might be effective in providing greater knowledge on the topic. There are two types of data collection process namely secondary and primary among which secondary data collection process agave been selected for this research (Aithal, 2017). As per the view of Mohajan (2018), secondary data collection is significant in collecting relevant data at less cost and within a little period. Therefore, the researchers have used a “secondary qualitative data collection method” for completing this research.
Data analysis is the process of modelling, inspecting and transforming data to obtain crucial information for meeting the research objectives. As per the view of Dodds and Hess (2020), there are primarily two types of data analysis processes namely primary and secondary data analysis processes. The present research has used a secondary data analysis process and therefore used “thematic analysis” for providing relevant information to future readers. Apart from the above methods, ethical considerations have also been made to avoid any copyright or legal issues with the data provided in the research. It was ensured that the data collected was only from reliable sources such as “Google Scholar” and “ProQuest”. Along with this, the selection of the journal articles is done strictly on their relevance to the research topic.
4. Conclusion
The study has analyzed the ways how the Covid 19 pandemic has shifted the working styles and conditions in which the employees and employers work and live. This had potential “positive shifts” as well as negative consequences in the daily working life of the employers as well as the employees from every sector and industry. Therefore, this study has examined the overall, actual as well as perceived impacts of the global pandemic on the different elements and aspects of the working life of the individuals. It has evaluated the aspects like “Mental well-being (MWB)” and “Self-rated health (SRH)”, and many more factors that had an impact on the workers globally. It has been concluded that the changes in the working conditions had more positive impact rather than negative influences as most of the employees reported to have gained subsequently from the remote working conditions.
The research has facilitated effective and substantial data and information on the research topic. However, it has been identified that the research lacks sufficient in-depth information on the research topic as it has only used secondary data collection methods for providing evidence on the arguments made. Using only secondary data collection has limited the research by extracting only literary data on the research issue. It is understood that using the primary data collection method might have assisted in gaining substantial insight into the views of the one’s affected by conducting interviews and surveys on the target population. An absence of which is regarded as a research gap and to fill this gap a primary data collection and analysis method can be undertaken.
Reference List
Aithal, P.S., 2017. ABCD Analysis as Research Methodology in Company Case Studies. International Journal of Management, Technology, and Social Sciences (IJMTS), 2(2), pp.40-54.
Babii, A., 2020. Important aspects of the experimental research methodology. Вісник Тернопільського національного технічного університету, 97(1), pp.77-87.
Dodds, S. and Hess, A.C., 2020. Adapting research methodology during COVID-19: lessons for transformative service research. Journal of Service Management.
Fidahic, M., Nujic, D., Runjic, R., Civljak, M., Markotic, F., Makaric, Z.L. and Puljak, L., 2020. Research methodology and characteristics of journal articles with original data, preprint articles and registered clinical trial protocols about COVID-19. BMC medical research methodology, 20(1), pp.1-9.
Hennekam, S., Ladge, J.J. and Powell, G.N., 2021. Confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic: How multi-domain work-life shock events may result in positive identity change. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 130, p.103621.
İlkkaracan, İ. and Memiş, E., 2021. Transformations in the Gender Gaps in Paid and Unpaid Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from Turkey. Feminist Economics, 27(1-2), pp.288-309.
Juchnowicz, M. and Kinowska, H., 2021. Employee well-being and digital work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information, 12(8), p.293.
Kotini-Shah, P., Man, B., Pobee, R., Hirshfield, L.E., Risman, B.J., Buhimschi, I.A. and Weinreich, H.M., 2021. Work–Life Balance and Productivity Among Academic Faculty During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Latent Class Analysis. Journal of Women’s Health.
Lai, P.C., 2018. Research methodology for novelty technology. JISTEM-Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management, 15.
Mohajan, H.K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), pp.23-48.
Möhring, K., Naumann, E., Reifenscheid, M., Wenz, A., Rettig, T., Krieger, U., Friedel, S., Finkel, M., Cornesse, C. and Blom, A.G., 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic and subjective well-being: longitudinal evidence on satisfaction with work and family. European Societies, 23(sup1), pp.S601-S617.
Ørngreen, R. and Levinsen, K., 2017. Workshops as a Research Methodology. Electronic Journal of E-learning, 15(1), pp.70-81.
Phillips, M.A. and Ritala, P., 2019. A complex adaptive systems agenda for ecosystem research methodology. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 148, p.119739.
Ragab, M.A. and Arisha, A., 2018. Research methodology in business: A starter’s guide. Management and Organizational Studies, 5(1), pp.1-14.
Schieman, S., Badawy, P.J., A. Milkie, M. and Bierman, A., 2021. Work-life conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. Socius, 7, p.2378023120982856.
Snyder, H., 2019. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of business research, 104, pp.333-339.
Ulmer, J.B., 2017. Posthumanism as research methodology: Inquiry in the Anthropocene. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(9), pp.832-848.
Website
Biomedcentral.com, 2021, BMC Public Health, available at: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-10788-8 [accessed on: 06.12.2021]
