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| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2021 | Volume
: 13
| Issue : 6 | Page : 1000-1002 |
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The impact of COVID-19-induced factors on “Work from Home” of employees
Santosh Kumar Verma1, Barun Dev Kumar2, Neha Singh1, Priyanka Kumari1, Madhu Ranjan3, Abhishek Verma4
1 Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, Dental Institute, RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
2 Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Dental Institute, RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
3 Department of Prosthodontics, Crown and Bridge, Hazaribag College of Dental Sciences, Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India
4 Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, Buddha Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Patna, Bihar, India
| Date of Submission | 25-Mar-2021 |
| Date of Decision | 02-Apr-2021 |
| Date of Acceptance | 16-Apr-2021 |
| Date of Web Publication | 10-Nov-2021 |
Correspondence Address:
Santosh Kumar Verma
Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, Dental Institute, RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_247_21
 Abstract | | |
Background: COVID-19 pandemic resulted in lockdown affecting all businesses globally. Everyone was forced to work from home (WFH) leading to challenges in productivity and motivation. Methodology: One thousand working professionals who worked from home participated in the online survey with semi-structured questionnaire using nonprobability Snowball sampling technique. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the findings and to collect data method. Results: Participants were asked about their biggest worries during lockdown COVID-19 situation and their biggest worry was infection to COVID-19/death. Professionals were asked whether they were affected or not affected due to “WFH” in COVID situation. The questionnaire items were clubbed into six major categories of job role overload, lifestyle choices, family distraction, occupational discomfort, job performance, and distress, and majority categories were affected. Conclusion: Thus, it is observed that the increase in work commitments leads to distress among employees while distractions from family members disrupt the quality of work. While good job performance contributes to life satisfaction, distress significantly diminished it. This paves the way for more studies to be done on work–life balance under WFH arrangements for as long as the pandemic of COVID-19 is prevalent.
Keywords: COVID-19, motivation, pandemic, productivity, work from home
How to cite this article:
Verma SK, Kumar BD, Singh N, Kumari P, Ranjan M, Verma A. The impact of COVID-19-induced factors on “Work from Home” of employees. J Pharm Bioall Sci 2021;13, Suppl S2:1000-2 |
How to cite this URL:
Verma SK, Kumar BD, Singh N, Kumari P, Ranjan M, Verma A. The impact of COVID-19-induced factors on “Work from Home” of employees. J Pharm Bioall Sci [serial online] 2021 [cited 2022 Jun 25];13, Suppl S2:1000-2. Available from: https://www.jpbsonline.org/text.asp?2021/13/6/1000/330034 |
| Introduction | |  |
Occupational stress or job stress is the pressure that an employee feels due to employment-related factors. When the expectations/demands put on an employee do not match with the available resources, i.e. knowledge, skill, or abilities, they tend to experience stress. Further, the changing society, cultural environment, and lifestyle affect employee performance and disturb the work–life balance.[1],[2] Previous studies have reported several ill effects of work-related stress, such as hypertension, diabetes, insomnia, asthma, musculoskeletal disorders, and others. This impact of occupational stress could be seen globally among all professions, on all categories of employees, families, and society in general. The novel coronavirus has further aggravated these ill effects. The majority of the organizations, be it educational institutions, schools, corporate houses, some businesses, and government offices, overnight adopted the work from home (WFH) concept.[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10] The novel coronavirus has further aggravated these ill effects. The majority of the organizations, be it educational institutions, schools, corporate houses, some businesses, and government offices, overnight adopted the WFH concept.[11],[12],[13],[14],[15] This study helps understand the impact on employees due to “WFH” in COVID situation among employees from Jharkhand and Bihar region of India.
| Methodology | | |
The present study analyzes the impact of COVID-19-induced changes in the lifestyle, work situations, overlapping responsibilities, and discomfort among the working professionals on their job performance, distress, and life satisfaction. The study sample consisted of professionals residing in Jharkhand and Bihar region, India, and working in any private or public enterprise. The Snowball sampling technique has been used to reach the respective sample. Google Forms was used to develop an online semi-structured questionnaire with a consent form appended to it. The link of the questionnaire was sent through LinkedIn, Facebook, e-mails, WhatsApp, and online organizational groups to the contacts of the authors. Demographic details and a series of questions then appeared sequentially for the participant to answer. The data collection was initiated on May 20, 2020, at 4.25 PM IST and closed on May 26, 2020, at 4.25 PM IST. We were able to collect data from across various states of India. A total of 1000 participants filled up the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the findings and to estimate the results of the study.
| Results | | |
The valid sample size used in the study was 1000 participants of Jharkhand and Bihar region, India. The survey has 40% of females and 60% of males. An almost similar distribution of respondents in different age groups is found, with 35 years as an average. It has been observed that females (48%) have been experiencing more distress than the males (41%). Out of 13% of the semi- and government professionals, 90% have been suffering from mild distress, while 43% and 44% of the teachers and private employees, 73% and 62%, are suffering from mild distress. Thirty-one percent of the total private employees and 9% of the total teachers suffer from moderate to severe distress, respectively. Participants were asked about their biggest worries during lockdown COVID-19 situation [Table 1] and their biggest worry was infection to COVID-19/death. Professionals were asked whether they were affected or not affected due to “WFH” in COVID situation. The questionnaire items were clubbed into six major categories of job role overload, lifestyle choices, family distraction, occupational discomfort, job performance, and distress [Figure 1]. | Table 1: What are your two biggest worries during lockdown COVID-19 situation?
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| Discussion | | |
The pandemic has been instrumental in making a shift from the physical work setup to WFH setup. This major shift, along with the widespread pandemic, can affect employee's job performance and can induce psychological distress among them. This has also been verified by the recent survey of UK health-care workers, where the results stated that women are experiencing distress and job disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Institute for Public Policy Research 2020).[10] Therefore, this change has been studied with the help of lifestyle choices, role overload, family distractions, operational difficulty, and their influence on job performance, distress, and life satisfaction. Amid the lockdown, when every employee was forced to WFH, that too, without any support of house help, schools, and day-care facilities, the veil between personal and professional lives disappeared. Therefore, the employee not only suffered from distress from a study done by Prasad et al.[13] Our study supports the past studies like Kahn 1980,[5] as it is found that increased work expectations and pressure result in anger, frustration, and stress among the working segment.
Measuring the distress levels, it has been found that many participants felt nervous some of the time and most to all the time, respectively, during the lockdown.[12],[13],[14],[15] This might be because of the discomfort that they have been facing due to the WFH pressure along with managing the domestic responsibilities. More than 70% of the participants have completely agreed that they would expect operational safety practices to be followed at their workplaces once it becomes fully operational. The respondents themselves would also follow the guidelines such as washing hands and wearing masks most of the time.
| Conclusion | | |
Thus, it is observed that the increase in work commitments leads to distress among employees while distractions from family members disrupt the quality of work. While good job performance contributes to life satisfaction, distress significantly diminished it. This paves the way for more studies to be done on work–life balance under WFH arrangements for as long as the pandemic of COVID-19 is prevalent.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | | |
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[Figure 1]
[Table 1]
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