Adoption of remote work: implications for tax practitioners

Abstract

The object of the study is the remote work. The prevalence of remote work has increased, bringing a dual effect for businesses and employees. On the other hand, it has the potential to blur boundaries between family and work responsibilities which can lead to family conflicts. The study investigated the challenges and opportunities of remote work for tax practitioners in South Africa. Drawing from a qualitative research approach, a purposive sampling technique was used to select the participant. The participants were selected based on their lived experience of remote working. The sample for the study comprised fifteen Tax practitioners from eThekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. The study adopted semi-structured telephone interviews as a data collection tool, interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded, while thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that remote work saved Tax practitioners time on travelling to and from work, travel costs and offered a flexible work environment. In addition, privacy, family conflicts, overwork, access to digital devices and lack of digital skills were found to be the main challenges experienced by practitioners working remotely. From the findings, it’s clear that remote work is influenced by invisible and visible factors that affect productivity. Therefore, the systems in remote work should provide a conducive environment that will buffer the factors mentioned in remote work to exploit the opportunities presented by remote work. The study recommends that employers develop new policies that will allow employees to work remotely in an optimised way.