The Role of Employee Relations in Shaping Job Satisfaction as an Element Promoting Positive Mental Health at Work in the Era of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the mental health of employees. Deterioration of the well-being of workers is also caused by changes in the working environment. Remote working can affect both social interactions and job satisfaction. The purpose of the study is to examine what factors influence job satisfaction in the context of remote work caused by a pandemic. The study analyses whether employee relations and interpersonal trust are related to the level of perceived job satisfaction. The investigation started with a literature review and then research hypotheses have been formulated. Based on an empirical study, carried out on a sample of 220 IT employees during the pandemic, an analysis of the mediating role of trust in links between employee relations and perceived job satisfaction was conducted. The current study found that positive employee relations contribute to the level of job satisfaction. Additionally, trust is an important factor that mediates these relationships. Based on the results of the research, it was possible to describe the mechanism of shaping a supportive work environment during a pandemic.

Don’t Call It Smart: Working From Home During the Pandemic Crisis

“…The actions and interventions described above can also act on the job demands considered in the study, workload, and social isolation, which most likely were increased during the lockdown, which negatively impacted the quality of life (see hypotheses H1, H6 and H7). For these reasons, as also reported by Bulińska-Stangrecka and Bagieńska (2021) , in pandemic times, it could also be useful to create spaces for interaction. The relevance of perceived organizational support, as a job resource, appears to be decisive for discussing the relationship between organization and employees, in the specific case of pandemic management.…”

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Teleworking and Education in a Romanian Higher Education Institution: An Internal Stakeholders Perspective

“…Psychological well-being associated with TW has been studied in a different context [88], including HEIs [89,90]. Other studies reveal that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworkers' stress was caused by new factors such as health and life threats, numerous restrictions, and recommendations due to the epidemic state (stay-at-home, closure of many institutions), isolation, lack of social support [91], inability to connect effectively with employing organization [92] and a reduced sense of belonging to the organization [15,82]. Satisfaction with life and the affective component of psychological well-being tend to correlate because both are influenced by the assessment made by people about activities and circumstances in which life is carried out [93].…”

The Impact of Mandate Contract and Self-Employment on Workers’ Health—Evidence from Poland

“…The global health crisis may have affected the reliability of the responses, since it has been empirically proven that overall job security and self-rated health decreased during this period [74,75]. Mental health and well-being were affected the most in the initial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic [76] because of the dynamic changes in the way of working and living such as, e.g., a switch to remote working, the reduction of interactions with other people, and the fear of infection [77][78][79]. Therefore, it is worth conducting similar research after the Covid-19 pandemic and comparing the results.…”