Theorizing Employee Stress, Well-being, Resilience and Boundary Management in the Context of Forced Work from Home During COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic hit mankind at an unprecedented scale. In their attempt to continue functioning, organizations asked employees to work from home. Though employees experienced stress due to ‘forced’ work from home and blurring of work–family boundaries, they had to cope with the challenging times. The present study aimed to unearth the aspects of boundary management and adaptation in the context of work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, we address the research question ‘how did the employees adapt to the sudden forced work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic?’ Since work from home was forced upon employees during the pandemic leading to the violation of boundaries, we invoked the boundary theory that highlights the boundaries that people draw between their personal and professional lives to maintain a balance. Further, we referred to the theory of cognitive adaptation to explain how employees adapted to the challenges while working from home during COVID-19. We conducted in-depth interviews of 30 experienced professionals working in the technology-enabled sectors in India. We applied Gioia’s methodology to analyse the qualitative data. Four aggregate dimensions emerged from the data analysis, as employees involuntarily worked from home: stress due to work disruptions, threats to employee well-being, boundary violation and employee resilience. Our findings contribute to the current theoretical understanding of employee stress, boundary management, adaptation or resilience and employee well-being, in the context of forced work from home. While employees were stressed and boundaries had blurred between work and family, they adapted and demonstrated resilience to the unprecedented changes in their lives. Practical implications of our study include managers’ conscious efforts towards respecting work–family boundaries, enhancing employee well-being and building a resilience-promoting work environment.

Consequences of COVID-19 on Employees in Remote Working: Challenges, Risks and Opportunities An Evidence-Based Literature Review

“…Secondly, remote working was considered the only tool to ensure corporate continuity during the crisis. However, several organizations were not ready (from a strategic, instrumental, and technological point of view) to implement this new arrangement [ 6 ]. In this regard, the organizations that showed valuable abilities to manage the change process related to the pandemic were even able to reduce the impact of potential stressors on the employees by driving them in the change and implementing practical actions to support their well-being, performance, and productivity [ 49 , 50 ].…”

“…The national lockdowns that were implemented to stop the spread of the virus forced many organizations to turn suddenly into remote work, pushing towards a much greater use of technology [ 5 ]. At the same time, before the pandemic, most workers had little remote working experience, nor were they or their organizations prepared to support these practices [ 6 ].…”

Impact of employee well-being on performance in the context of crisis-induced remote work: role of boundary control and professional isolation

“…Thus, in this study, we refer to remote work as organisational work performed outside of the organisational confines of space and time facilitated by ICT (Olson, 1983). While conventional remote work has been in practice for a few decades, the present crisis-induced remote work is different (Blahopoulou et al, 2022;Jaiswal et al, 2022). Conventional remote work was a voluntary option to provide flexibility to those employees who wanted to work from outside the office space.…”

The effect of telework on emotional exhaustion and task performance via work overload: the moderating role of self-leadership

“…Telework has become an option for several companies as it has also several advantages for both employers and employees (Leung & Zhang, 2017), At the organizational level, telework is beneficial as it leads to (a) increased productivity and job satisfaction; (b) reduced turnover, absenteeism, and costs (e.g., rents and parking); (c) greater efficiency in attraction and recruitment processes and; (d) the possibility to maintain work activities in disaster or emergencies, as in the current COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Fonner & Roloff, 2010;Grant et al 2013;Jaiswal et al, 2022;.…”

“…Telework was defined as a flexible work arrangement that allows employees to perform their duties and communicate with colleagues and supervisors, from various locations (e.g., home), outside the employer's central premises, and supported by electronic communication devices and networks (e.g., Bentley et al, 2016). It presents a set of advantages for both individuals and organizations (Leung & Zhang, 2017); for instance, it seems to decrease stress, and improve performance (e.g., Jaiswal et al, 2022;Junça-Silva & Coelho, 2022;Kissi et al, 2019). These advantages have been attributed to increased flexibility and autonomy, lower work-family conflict, fewer interruptions, and improved concentration, among others (e.g., Allen et al, 2015;Golden, 2009;.…”