Predictors of well-being and productivity among software professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic – a longitudinal study

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to impose movement restrictions on their citizens. Although critical to reducing the virus’ reproduction rate, these restrictions come with far-reaching social and economic consequences. In this paper, we investigate the impact of these restrictions on an individual level among software engineers who were working from home. Although software professionals are accustomed to working with digital tools, but not all of them remotely, in their day-to-day work, the abrupt and enforced work-from-home context has resulted in an unprecedented scenario for the software engineering community. In a two-wave longitudinal study ( N = 192), we covered over 50 psychological, social, situational, and physiological factors that have previously been associated with well-being or productivity. Examples include anxiety, distractions, coping strategies, psychological and physical needs, office set-up, stress, and work motivation. This design allowed us to identify the variables that explained unique variance in well-being and productivity. Results include (1) the quality of social contacts predicted positively, and stress predicted an individual’s well-being negatively when controlling for other variables consistently across both waves; (2) boredom and distractions predicted productivity negatively; (3) productivity was less strongly associated with all predictor variables at time two compared to time one, suggesting that software engineers adapted to the lockdown situation over time; and (4) longitudinal analyses did not provide evidence that any predictor variable causal explained variance in well-being and productivity. Overall, we conclude that working from home was per se not a significant challenge for software engineers. Finally, our study can assess the effectiveness of current work-from-home and general well-being and productivity support guidelines and provides tailored insights for software professionals.

Relationships between Physical Activity, Work Ability, Absenteeism and Presenteeism in Australian and New Zealand Adults during COVID-19

“…Critically, though, the potential effect for PA to influence job performance during work from home was not investigated [ 36 ], as was the case in our study. Furthermore, software professionals working from home during the pandemic reported that distractions, boredom, and the need for competence were negatively associated with self-reported job performance, but in contrast to our findings, there was no association between job performance and PA [ 37 ]. Our findings suggest that engagement in PA can support employee job performance in changing work environments, which is an important consideration for employers.…”

“…Factors negatively affecting work ability have been identified as a lack of leisure time, vigorous PA, poor musculoskeletal health, older age, high mental work demands, and poor work environment [ 39 ]. During COVID-19, many employees were required to work from home, resulting in increased distractions and fewer peer-to-peer social interactions, potentially negatively affecting wellbeing during this time [ 5 , 37 ]. The pandemic also appears to have negatively impacted mental health, which could be a factor affecting work performance [ 1 , 4 , 5 ].…”

Assessing Employee Engagement in a Post-COVID-19 Workplace Ecosystem

“…Further complicating our typically held knowledge regarding employee engagement and the place of work is recent research that confirms how working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic was (for some) effective [26] and improved employee productivity and well-being [27]. The same has been reported in pre-COVID-19 studies [28,29].…”

Multilevel analysis of resonant leadership and subordinate’s work performance during COVID-19: a study of the indian software industry

“…The majority of Indian information technology (IT) companies have resorted to rigorous employee performance metrics and massive retrenchment and pay cuts amid the pandemic (Mohapatra, 2020 ). Furthermore, since the pandemic, increased workload and working hours have caused considerable stress among software professionals (Russo et al, 2021 ). Such an increased level of stress, coupled with anxiety and concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, makes it crucial to effectively manage the psychological capital and well-being of the IT workforce.…”