Benefits of Work from Home from Employee’s Perspective
The contagious disease Covid-19 has not only impacted the physical condition of the population worldwide, but it has also changed the way of work in the workplace around the world. Students, workers, and families are being advised to maintain social distancing as they have become more conscious about their health and personal habits and as a result, they have restricted themselves from offline shopping and buying groceries. In this situation across the globe, working from home has become a new normal and most of the major tech firms have taken steps for working home opportunities and allowing the employees to work remotely (Bick, Blandin and Mertens 2020). The thesis statement of this essay is to find out how an organization will boost the morale of its employees while working remotely during the pandemic. An organization cannot just stop its operation due to the sudden outbreak of Covid-19 and they need to ensure that the employees will not get felt alone while working from home (Kramer and Kramer 2020).
Some employees prefer to do WFH and the prime reason behind that is the flexible working hours. Flexible work hours provide employees some control over their everyday life, permitting them to organize both work and home engagements as per their individual needs. Another advantage of working from home for professionals is that they save time traveling to the workplace and avoid rush-hour traffic (Irawanto, Noviantiand Roz 2021). Employees who work from home might also stand to benefit financially in several different ways. They can save money if they don’t have to commute daily.
From the employee’s point of view, the following are the disadvantages of working from home:
Employees who work from home have a number of drawbacks, including technological issues that cannot be resolved virtually, disproportionate payment between office and remote workers, staff estrangement, a lack of typical contact with peers, and difficulties coordinating unions. Another negative aspect for employees is the hindrance to career advancement. Critics claim that employees who remain in the workplace have a better opportunity of being recognized and elevated earlier as administration is uninformed of the individual’s interpersonal contact abilities and interconnection. This situation has an influence on individual employee’s career opportunities because the respective current employer or coworkers may not comprehend the individual who continues to work from home and are loathe to disclose advice. Working from home is a disadvantage for workers because it eliminates the opportunity for interactions that occur with colleagues (Baker 2020). Employees who haven’t made such ties may feel detached from their peers as well as the business’s vision and mission.
Drawbacks of WFH from an Organization’s Perspective
Since certain nations have imposed full strictly enforced quarantines as a consequence of the Covid-19 outbreak, the only option for organizations in these nations is to work remotely. Nevertheless, even though there was no outbreak, several businesses opted to have their workers work from home. WFH has been implemented by various organizations because it has enhanced staff productivity and served as a motivator. Another motivational factor for which organizations have moved toward WFH is that they have effectively reduced their expenses on infrastructure. They have cut down the cost of office rent, and maintenance of official systems such as computers, telephones, offices, utilities, and office equipment.
Despite working remotely is becoming more prevalent in many areas as a consequence of the benefits described above, businesses are still hesitant to adopt it due to the difficulties. The difficulties of working remotely are predicated on the organization’s perceived or real loss of control. Employees may emphasize personal errands over duty, or will outsource tasks to others, undermining the company’s authority, as per employers. This could result in data security concerns (Green, Tappin and Bentley 2020). According to multiple research studies, productivity and work quality issues are placed second among the downsides of work-from-home for organizations. Even though peers and supervisors contact professionals, the lack of face-to-face communication and the perks that come with facial expression interaction is a barrier. Working from home techniques need effective communication because team members are reliant on one another, and supervisors struggle to control them as they are all geographically separated (Aczel et al. 2021). As earlier said, being away from teammates and the office can lead to a collapse of individuality as the company grows and a poor team unity, both are detrimental to performance.
The above-mentioned paragraphs have shown the benefits and drawbacks of WFH from both the perspective of organizations and employees. Though there are certain benefits of WFH yet it has some negative impact on the moral growth of the employees associated with the organization to enhance the morale of the workforce, organizations have taken several approaches that I will be described in the following paragraphs. Firstly, jumping to the solutions adopted by the corporation, I will be describing the definition of morale. Morale is represented by a variety of phrases from distinct perspectives. Morale in the armed services relates to the goal of completing the assigned duty, in sports, it pertains to a team’s identity; in education, it focuses on students’ passion to study; and in commercials, it refers to the determination to attain objectives (Dash and Mohanty 2019). As a result, it is an individual’s personal or a group’s overall attitude towards all the aspects of work, such as the firm, the profession, the managers, colleagues, working surroundings, and so on. Employee enthusiasm, spontaneous conformity with guidelines and directives, and a commitment to work together to achieve an organization’s objectives are all signs of high morale. Grumpiness, willful disobedience, a sense of despondency, and disdain for the job, organization, and colleagues are all signs of low morale.
Definition of Morale and Factors Affecting Employee’s Morale
Source: Vennage
This fishbone diagram has been used to present the cause and effect relation for the identification of low productivity of the employees due to the circumstantial factors.
Organization: According to me, the organization is the first thing that influences employee morale. Employees’ attitudes toward their occupations are determined by the organization (Kalpana 2018). For better or even worse, an organization’s public reputation can influence public perceptions of it.Nature of Work: The level of employment that an employee is supposed to do influences their outlook toward his profession and his morale. An employee will feel bored and alienated if he is required to perform repetitive or specialized tasks. Employees’ working conditions are worse by the repeating of almost the same task time after time.Supervision Level: An employee’s morale is significantly linked to the level of monitoring he obtains. Employee turnover at a rapid percentage implies ineffective management. Employee morale, on either hand, will be excellent if they are allowed to execute their responsibilities (Mallik, Mallik and Keerthi 2019). No one enjoys being constantly watched.
Due to the impact of Covid-19, employees are being forced to stay at home and work remotely and their morale gets down as the above-mentioned factors are triggered. And to overcome this, organizations are taking several measures to implement new strategies to boost employee morale and promote the productivity of the organization.
The importance of boosting employee morale in a company cannot be overstated. Employee morale should be improved continuously by the supervisor. Although it can be done individually or in a group setting, the latter is probably beneficial. It’s because, by comprehending group processes, management can effectively influence group morale, which in turn can effortlessly achieve individual morale.
It’s no surprise that COVID-19 has caused problems for countless businesses around the world. Many businesses are simply struggling financially during this epidemic, with significant declines in profitability and reduced sales. Even though the successes are minor, try to share them with the team regularly. A significant sale, a great anecdote or statement from a consumer, or a strong alliance with some other organizations are all instances of this. Employees must understand that there are indeed possibilities and achievements accessible during this whole crisis (Pattnaik and Jena 2020). This will maintain their motivation levels high during this timeframe.
Employees are likely to model an organization commander’s tension and frustration if he or she is stressed and annoyed. As a result, when dealing with their staff, leaders should aim to stay quiet and moderate their impulses. Employees might utilize it as a chance to explain their work environment by asking about concerns. Keeping the employees in the shadows simply adds to their anxiety and stress. This is also a fantastic approach to dispel any fake news stories and misinformation that may be circulating during these difficult times (Powe Sr 2020).
Virtual conversations are made simple owing to video applications like Zoom and GoToMeeting. These programs would not only enhance the motivation, but they will also provide an opportunity for staff to exchange their isolation management strategies and also make strong bonding among the teammates (Kandavel and Sakthivel 2018).
Conclusion
Thus, this essay has constructively developed an understanding of the ways through which the organizations can create a new mode of working and also maintain employee morale. The management needs to maintain proper two-way communication between management and employees and also all management policies should be explained through downward communication.
References
Aczel, B., Kovacs, M., Van Der Lippe, T. and Szaszi, B., 2021. Researchers working from home: Benefits and challenges. PloS one, 16(3), p.e0249127.
Baker, M.G., 2020. Who cannot work from home? Characterizing occupations facing increased risk during the COVID-19 pandemic using 2018 BLS data. Medrxiv.
Bick, A., Blandin, A. and Mertens, K., 2020. Work from home after the COVID-19 Outbreak.
Dash, B. and Mohanty, P.K., 2019. The effects of work environment, self-evaluation at workplace and employee morale on employee engagement. Srusti Management Review, 12(1), pp.33-39.
Green, N., Tappin, D. and Bentley, T., 2020. Working from home before, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic: Implications for workers and organisations. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, 45(2), pp.5-16.
Irawanto, D.W., Novianti, K.R. and Roz, K., 2021. Work from home: Measuring satisfaction between work–life balance and work stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Economies, 9(3), p.96.
Kalpana, R., 2018. Organisational related factors relationship with morale–A View.
Kandavel, R. and Sakthivel, D., 2018. Teamwork and Its Impacts on Employees’ Morale. International journal of research and analytical review, 5(04), pp.1058-1064.
Kramer, A. and Kramer, K.Z., 2020. The potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on occupational status, work from home, and occupational mobility. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 119, p.103442.
Mallik, A., Mallik, L. and Keerthi, D.S., 2019. Impact of employee morale on organizational success. Int. J. Recent Technol. Eng, 8, pp.3289-3293.
Pattnaik, L. and Jena, L.K., 2020. Mindfulness, remote engagement and employee morale: conceptual analysis to address the “new normal”. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Powe Sr, D.E., 2020. Leadership Approaches Federal Government Civilian Employees Perceive Most Effective for Enhancing Employee Morale and Productivity (Doctoral dissertation, Brandman University).
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
