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Remote work has rapidly transitioned from a flexible perk to a fundamental operational model, triggering seismic shifts across all business sectors. The Human Resources (HR) industry, traditionally reliant on face-to-face interactions, has been particularly challenged by the acceleration of this trend due to events like COVID-19. This paper critically investigates the impact of remote work on employee engagement and performance in the HR industry. It seeks to understand how HR professionals are adapting their key processes—such as recruitment, performance evaluation, and maintaining organizational culture—to a distributed workforce. This research is a valuable resource for students seeking assignment help related to modern HR challenges and remote work dynamics. Ultimately, this research aims to identify the specific challenges faced by HR teams in a remote setting and propose actionable strategies to enhance both employee engagement and performance to ensure the continued effectiveness of the HR function.
This chapter establishes the context and rationale for studying the impact of remote work on employee engagement and performance in the HR industry. The widespread adoption of remote work has fundamentally changed organizational dynamics. Historically, HR operations relied heavily on physical presence; however, the shift has introduced both opportunities (like increased work-life balance) and significant challenges (like maintaining team cohesion and organizational culture). This research is crucial because the success of HR in managing these changes directly affects the employee engagement and performance of the entire organization. Therefore, the core aim is to precisely determine the effects of this new working pattern on the HR department.
Remote work has become the new culture in working and has triggered drastic changes In the organization of work across all industries (Ivaldi, Scaratti and Fregnan, 2021). The Human Resources (HR) sector has been one of the most significant industries impacted by this shift because it is dependent on face-to-face communication and teamwork. The shift toward a remote workplace which has been accelerated due to COVID-19 has impacted how HR managers handle some key processes like engagement, performance evaluation, recruitment, and organizational culture (Amoah et al., 2021).
Figure 1.1: Trends of remote work over the years
Employment trends were no exception to this, with the share of employees working remotely increasing to some 27 per cent in 2022 from just 13 per cent two years prior (Sherif, 2024). Remote work was previously considered more of a fashionable trend embraced by innovative employers, which affected only definite occupations or branches (Wang et al., 2020). However, as organisations worldwide had to implement work from home to keep operations going amid the pandemic, it became the new normal rather fast. These new changes have also revealed the advantages and disadvantages of remote work as many people switch to remote working.
In the case of remote work, those in the HR departments have had to find ways of adjusting their work practices. Further, remote working can be an advantage to the HR teams because they can work on their tasks from anywhere hence increasing job satisfaction and work-life balance (Davidescu et al., 2020). That said, some of the issues may entail as follows; it is hard to maintain the group’s and individual employee involvement under a cloud, or have a clear vision of how well the remote team is performing; it also lacks sufficient measures to ensure the employees across the company embrace the organisational culture as most services are delivered online (Davidescu et al., 2020). As HR practitioners manage these changes, it is necessary to know how they affect the work-related engagement and productivity of employees who work remotely. This paper aims to highlight how effective the HR teams have been in dealing with remote work because their ability to succeed affects the entire workforce population hence the need for organisations to strategise with the view of helping the HR professionals.
Consequently, this research will aim to determine the effects of the new pattern of working from home on the concern of employee engagement and performance with specific reference to the Human Resources department. Thus, this study seeks to understand the factors that enhance these areas and the difficulties that HR professionals encounter, and to offer some solutions to these issues, this research intends to contribute to the improvement of HR practices in the context of the remote work environment. The results outlined in this article will help advance the discussion of working remotely and provide future ideas for HR departments to promote productivity and satisfaction for remote workers in future post-pandemic reality.
Aim
The primary aim of this research is to investigate the impact of remote work on employee engagement and performance within the Human Resources (HR) industry.
Objectives
The new tendency of implementing remote working policies in organizations has been accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly changed the working environment of various industries, including Human Resources (HR) (Raghavan, Demircioglu and Orazgaliyev, 2021). This transition has changed the importance of remote working in terms of opportunities and risks, which makes it an essential research interest for any organization that needs to ensure optimal levels of engagement and performance among the workforce. (SCARLAT, STĂNCIULESCU and PANDURU, 2022)
The relevance of this research to the field of human resource management is based on the critical function of HR specialists as the company’s culture, employee health, and productivity moderators (AlHamad et al., 2022). In essence, their capacity to work in remote work settings determines the effectiveness of remote work strategies within companies. However, it remains unclear as to how the current sudden shift in the methods of communication and team dynamics has affected the groups of HR professionals who are used to face-to-face interactions (AlHamad et al., 2022). This research hopes to meet that need by offering information on the perceptions of HR professionals on the effects of telecommuting on their interest and productivity necessary for establishing and sustaining strong HR practices.
This paper attempts to explain the nature of remote work practices as well as their effect on the engagement and performance of employees in an organization to enhance performance. In the case of teleworking which implies minimal face-to-face contact with other employees, these factors might easily be affected hence causing general working problems. Hence understanding the impacts of remote work on the parts involved in the HR industry would be crucial in a way to formulating different objectives which can help to ensure that the HR professionals can work efficiently (Biron et al., 2020).
Figure 1.2: Dissertation Structure
The literature review explores the evolution of remote work and its documented effects, specifically focusing on the impact of remote work on employee engagement and performance in the HR industry. Existing scholarly work highlights that factors like virtual communication, leadership support, and access to necessary technology are critical for sustaining employee engagement in a remote environment. Furthermore, this chapter examines how HR functions, such as recruitment and training, have been transformed and how performance is measured when traditional face-to-face monitoring is absent. A key finding is the need to address communication barriers and the risk of social isolation, which are primary challenges to employee performance when working remotely.
COVID-19 has triggered an exponential rise in requests for work-from-home that has sparked a substantial hunger for work-from-home literature within a short period. The success of this chapter lies in the endeavour to explore remote work studies, namely the effects of remote work on employees’ engagement and performance in the context of the Human Resources (HR) field. The literature is also reviewed based on the emergence and development of remote work and factors that contribute to the engagement of employees working remotely or organizing remote work, the impact of remote work for different human resources functional areas and challenges for the HR professionals practising remote working.
Telecommuting, which was once seen as an optional perk extended to employees by progressive organizations, has become a common practice within a range of organizations and sectors, including HR (Beckel and Fisher, 2022). Remote work has historied and started at the end of the 20th century due to the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to complete the assigned tasks from various locations, that are not the workplace. Nonetheless, the extent of remote work was not widely embraced up to early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which encouraged organisations to adopt remote work policies and practices to ensure business operations continue as usual (Amoah et al., 2021).
In the initial stages of the Remote working model, it was used by certain professions that did not require oversight and can be quantified based on productivity, for instance, freelancers, IT helpdesk, and consultants (Howe and Menges, 2021). Some advantages came with remote work such as more flexibility, no time spent in traffic and possibly a better balance between work and family. However, productivity, communication problems, and the loss of company culture were some of the factors that escalated its adoption to the next level.
Figure 2.1: Different components of Remote working and employee performance
The COVID-19 pandemic became the driving force behind the fast pace of the development of remote work since organizations had to follow government-imposed lockdowns and social distancing rules (Feldmann et al., 2020). This change caused a reconsideration of remote work’s possibility and efficiency in different areas, including those that are supposed to be performed in an office – for example, HR. It significantly raised awareness of organizations about the necessity to build digital platforms, define novel patterns of communication, and reorganize the approaches to the employees in the situation of their work from home.
In the recent past especially due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, teleworking became the new culture and with this, some factors that have characterized the practice have developed as follows (Greene and Rosiello, 2020). Such as the new norm of employees working remotely, some days in the office and some days from home, increasing use of technology for collaboration and mounting importance given to employees’ health and wellness. In the field of HR, remote work has led to virtual recruitment, online training as well as the virtual performance management system.
Flexible work has also affected organizational policies since with the COVID-19 outbreak it became clear that remote work can be a normal practice for companies (Adekoya, Adisa and Aiyenitaju, 2022). This has implications for the future of work since organizations are yet to fully understand how they can optimize the advantages of teleworking while managing the challenges that are associated with face-to-face collaboration and mutual support among members.
Employee engagement in the context of teleworking can be defined as the level of emotional attachment, drive and obligation to work as well as a commitment to the organization while working in physical isolation from coworkers and managers (Benjamin, 2021). In a remote context, engagement is defined by communication processes, resource availability, support from the leadership, and the possibility of managing one’s work and personal life. All these factors are rather significant especially when an employee is working alone without direct supervision from other people in his or her team.
Face-to-face communication is critical in the teleworking context since it is the principal tool through which employees interface with their co-workers as well as their organization (Laurent Taskin, Ive Klinksiek and Ajzen, 2023). Lack of physical communication requires the adoption of virtual communication methods like video conferencing, instant messaging and collaborative platforms. Studies have also shown that when working remotely, communication from the management and frequent team and one-on-ones boost engagement (Laurent Taskin, Ive Klinksiek and Ajzen, 2023). Nonetheless, communication impairments which include misunderstanding and slow replies result in feelings of isolation, consequently decreasing engagement.
Figure 2.2: Employee work engagement and different factors
The availability of proper tools is another key dimension that determines employees’ engagement in remote work practices (Chanana and Sangeeta, 2020). HR practitioners and other workers require effective online tools that help them complete their work, such as HRMS, project management applications, and messaging channels. The ease of use, accessibility and efficacy of these tools are directly proportional to employees’ level of engagement. Moreover, the existence of resources like Web-based training and development as an engagement tool can also be of great use in the remote working environment since they offer avenues in terms of career advancement (Vahdat, 2021).
That is why leadership is a critical factor in engaging employees, especially in their remote work model where they might feel rather lonely. There are benefits in having leaders who listen to people and give clear instructions and occasions that let the team know they are valued (Chiemeke and Imafidor, 2020). This also means employee appreciation, feedback, and fostering the culture of teamwork in employees who are usually geographically dispersed. Also, cultural practices that can be effectively harnessed for flexibility include self-scheduling and remote working as they enable the employee’s uniqueness and preferred specifications to be provided for at the workplace (Chiemeke and Imafidor, 2020).
Several changes have occurred due to the adoption of the remote work culture; one of the significant changes has been in the recruitment process whereby the HR teams access talents from all over the world (Elena Adriana Biea et al., 2023). Many companies have had to use virtual tools like videos and online assessments to recruit and select candidates. Nevertheless, they also pose some concerns, such as issues regarding the evaluation of the candidates’ conformity to organizational culture, and the complete shift towards the necessity of possessing digital skills for the applicants. Furthermore, the onboarding process has had to change with the reality that new employees have to be onboarded seamlessly in a remote fashion (Haque, 2023). This is through offering virtual orientation sessions, utilising online onboarding tools as well as effective remote mentoring to ensure the new employees adapt to organizational culture and demands.
One of the critical learnings brought about by a shift to remote working is the delivery of training moderated through technology (Bojović et al., 2020). Online courses, webinars and online workshops have also replaced traditional face-to-face training sessions. As these methods have shown the benefits of flexibility and reach they also have their disadvantages of engagement and effectiveness. The mentioned digital training programmes must be engaging easily navigated and available to all employees irrespective of their IT literacy level seen by the HR professionals (Saxena, Baber and Kumar, 2020). In addition, the lack of personal engagement can weaken the assessment of training's effect on the improvement of employees’ competence as for most aspects of training, HR departments will have to look for other methods of evaluation of learning effectiveness and future professional growth (Akdere and Egan, 2020).
Figure 2.3: Influence of remote work on employee performances
New ways of working have also transposed the ways through which performance can be monitored and controlled within an organization (Trullen, Bos‐Nehles and Valverde, 2020). The process of performance management has had to change a lot due to the covid19 pandemic and traditional practices such as face-to-face meetings and follow-up via observation cannot be used to the same extent. When working remotely, there is limited face-to-face communication, which creates a need for objective criteria for assessing the employees’ performance (Stofkova and Sukalova, 2020). This involves putting tangible targets on the activities and the use of monitoring tool to assess the performance. Virtual meetings and performance reviews have thus become very essential to ensure that employees are continually reminded on how they should operate and how best to overcome any challenges that may be occasioned by the absence of physical supervision (Stofkova and Sukalova, 2020). However, this kind of communication is often impersonal, and sometimes that can create misunderstanding and employees may feel that they are not supported which may hamper their morale and productivity (Burhan Ismael et al., 2021).
Another major area of concern in the current working environment especially where most units have embraced remote work is the management of employee relations and the overall organizational culture. The geographic dispersion of the workforce results in a lack of contact between employees and could develop a perception of organizational climate that is detrimental to the organisation’s cohesion. To engage a remote worker, the HR teams have to consider how they can effectively engage and promote teamwork, which may include the following; organizing team-building activities, frequent communication and organizing organizational recognition programs for employees. However, HR professionals need to adopt equitable telework policies for guaranteed success to reach each worker at his/her workplace effectively.
Another area that has been impacted by the change in the working model is the delivery of HR services that include benefits administration, payroll, and other related support to employees (Reina and Scarozza, 2020). It seems that digital platforms and self-service portals are the only effective way for HR teams to deal with these functions. However, the reliance on technology also means that HR professionals need to be ready to sort out any possible technical problems which may occur and also to provide all the necessary facilities for every worker (Nankervis et al., 2019). Also, conflict resolution and employee support services are now less attainable through virtual means; HR departments have had to look at different ways to solve and address employees’ issues or boost morale amidst the pandemic.
Remote work has thus prompted several difficulties, especially in the realm of Human Resources (HR) (Hamouche, 2021). All these challenges have major consequences on the strategic improvement of the HR functions, level of engagement for the employees and the general organizational culture. HR professionals need to grasp such issues when trying to transform most of their work practices into more virtual ones.
Perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks of working remotely is a lack of contact, which can lead to employees feeling that they are working alone and do not belong to a team (Parry and Battista, 2019). This poses a problem to HR professionals who have in the past depended on word of mouth in handling employee relations. Separation can also impact the cohesion of the team and its capacity to create a sense of belonging which may adversely impact productivity and morale.
Communication is an essential foundation of most HR functions however remote working presents some challenges that may hinder communication (Hamouche, 2021). These include the challenges of technology-enabled communications including misunderstandings because of the inability to see body language signals, disparities in working time and slow response times. Further, with remote work, some teams or people may not have the same level of information and it creates inconsistency and confusion (O Connor, Conboy and Dennehy, 2021). These are some of the barriers through which HR professionals have to work hard to achieve organizational goals and objectives of effective communication.
In a remote work context, the standard ways of performance management: frequent face-to-face evaluations and close monitoring of the employees’ performance, may be difficult to apply (Rivera et al., 2021). The issue that may be challenging for HR professionals is determining the performance of the employees since they do not have direct interaction with the employees. This can result in difficulties in giving timely and useful feedback, proper goal setting and handling of performance concerns. Also, since workers are not physically present in an office, it may be challenging to notice or prevent burnout or disengagement, which are key challenges of performance management (Toniolo-Barrios and Pitt, 2021).
Teleworking is particularly an issue of major concern when it comes to organizational culture and culture development (Caraiani et al., 2022). Organizational culture is supported by promotion and maintenance of certain regular and familiar experiences, events or practices which it is sometimes difficult to integrate into the virtual format. Another crucial factor in a remote working environment is to ensure that the organizational culture stays alive, for instance, through virtual meetings, recitation of the organizational values, and establishment of inclusiveness among the employees (Asatiani et al., 2020). The problem lies in the fact that individuals working remotely have a weak sense of organizational belonging hence few organizations are faced with the challenge of how to maintain the employees’ awareness about the organization’s mission and values.
Concerns with reduced pro-social behaviour can be seen in how the use of technology within remote work environments has its own set of drawbacks (Ramkissoon, 2020). Thus, they require more attention from HR professionals since they must provide all the people with the proper tools to work efficiently. This comprises concerns such as digital competence, training related to various applications and security measures in preventing loss of information. Furthermore, technology in the form of software, tools, or processes can fail at handling the HR processes and lead to decreased employee morale and performance (Ramkissoon, 2020).
The Social Exchange Theory (SET) is one of the basic theories used in explaining relationships at the workplace (Ahmad et al., 2023). They have proposed that social behaviour equals an exchange process in which people evaluate the risks of interacting. In the case of working from home, SET can help understand the relationship between support for employees and their performance expectations. Second, while social exchange with remote employees through human resource support ensures improved loyalty, motivation, and productivity (Kilroy, Dundon and Townsend, 2022).
The JD-R model is applied for understanding the well-being and performance of the employees. Primary work demands: This classifies aspects of jobs as concerning strain or stress While secondary work resources: This classifies aspects of jobs as concerning engagement. In remote work environments, the job demands may include the pressure of a bigger workload, issues with technology, and problems with communication while the resources may entail working during a convenient time, technology, and top management support. The JD-R model can be applied to understanding how maintaining the demands and resources can affect the level of engagement and performance of the employee, to help strategies for enhancing the ‘work from home’ employment practices of HR (Kwon and Kim, 2020).
As the number of remote work-related studies increases, there is a dearth of information specifically on the area related to HR industry outcomes based on remote work. Although many works have been carried out to analyze the impact of remote working on employee engagement and productivity, remarkably little evidence has been provided elucidating how these advancements impact the operations and roles of HR (Greene and Rosiello, 2020). Since HR is involved in the responsibilities of developing organizational culture, employee relations, and performance management, these are some of the ways that remote work affects their work.
An important research limitation is the rather low level of research on the specific obstacles that HR professionals experience, during their work in transition to and in remote work. Some previously conducted studies have addressed broader issues of company emergencies, but few have focused on issues significant for the HR teams, for instance, organizational culture, working with remote teams or communication issues (Greene and Rosiello, 2020). Moreover, there is a lack of literature concerning the best practices for keeping those challenges in mind and how specific HR professionals can improve while working remotely.
This literature review has discussed the development and the current state of remote work and focused on the effects of working remotely on the engagement and productivity of employees, specifically in the field of human resources. Some of the major problems faced by HR professionals while implementing remote work include; Social isolation leading to work demotivation, communication barriers, and challenges concerning organizational culture. The review also explained in detail several theories, such as the Social Exchange Theory, the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, and the Transformational Leadership Theory which enriches the comprehension of such dynamics.
This chapter details the methodology used to investigate the impact of remote work on employee engagement and performance in the HR industry. Adopting a pragmatism research philosophy, the study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative in-depth interviews with HR professionals and quantitative surveys. The qualitative component provides rich insights into the specific challenges and strategies utilized by HR professionals, while the quantitative data, collected using established instruments like the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, allows for statistical analysis of employee engagement and performance trends.
This chapter provides information on the research methods utilised in this study to explore the effects of remote working on employee engagement and performance within the Human Resources (HR) sector. The chapter starts by presenting the rationale of the study and the reasons for adopting mixed-method research to establish the client’s perception of his or her counsellor. The subsequent sections explain the techniques of data collection such as qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative questionnaires and the sampling method that has been used.
The research philosophy that has been adopted for this study is pragmatism; this is often used in research that aims at solving real-life problems to come up with practical solutions (Dolan, Nowell and McCaffrey, 2022). Being a combination of various approaches, pragmatism does not limit the use of particular methodologies and philosophical orientations but rather emphasizes the result of the performed research. For the current study, this philosophy is suitable since it focuses on the use of the practical application of remote work considering the impact on employee engagement and performance in the context of human resource management, and holds both qualitative and quantitative data as the ways of revealing the perspectives of these processes (Magalhães, Andion and Manoel, 2022). This is in line with pragmatism which embraces the use of a combination of data from various types to get a holistic view of the problems in focus, which is in line with the chosen mixed method approach for this research.
The research liberalised both the qualitative and the quantitative data collection and analysis techniques to undertake an exhaustive examination of the research question on the effects of RWF on EE and job performance of workers in the HR division. This can help the research to build on the strength of both methodologies whereby information and evidence which may otherwise be general in nature may be obtained from the quantitative data while specific experience of respondents may be obtained from the qualitative data.
The qualitative part is concerned with the application of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted among human resource professionals based at their homes. This is the method that will allow researchers to capture the/both the richness of the experience, challenges and strategies utilized by HR professionals in a remote work setting. The participants’ inclusion is done by using purposeful sampling where only participants who have variation in their experiences with the phenomenon are included to enrich the experience (Campbell et al., 2020).
In the quantitative part, there is an increase in the number of the HR professionals employed remotely having to fill in the quantitative and the time-use questionnaires (Campbell et al., 2020). This part of the research employs assessment tools known as functional instruments including; the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale used to measure engagement levels while the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire is used to capture the performance outcomes. Quantitative data will be analyzed descriptively and inferentially by checking the trends concerning remote work and engagement as well as performance (Kotronoulas et al., 2023).
In the case of the qualitative in-depth interviews, purposive sampling is adopted whereby the participants should be experienced HR professionals who have worked remotely while performing their duties in different industries. This method is chosen because it enables the researcher to purposively recruit participants who can provide numerous, pertinent, and varied experiences and perspectives to the difficulties and approaches linked to distant HR activity. 7 HR professionals participate in the qualitative component of the study so as to cover a wide and diverse area with the level of detail necessary, still keeping the component relatively small for analysis (de Frutos-Belizón, Martín-Alcázar and Sánchez-Gardey, 2020).
While administering the quantitative survey, purposeful sampling is not used, instead, convenience sampling is used, hence, many HR professionals working remotely will be contacted (Scholtz, 2021). This one entails choosing persons who are convenient to find and are also willing to be part of the study. The sample size for the quantitative part is set to 70 HR professionals, while it is sufficient to assess the trends and test hypotheses comparing the relationship of variables.
For the qualitative part, data will be obtained through one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 7 HR workers who work from home in different companies (Cucolaş and Russo, 2023). The interviews will either be conducted using video conferencing applications or via telephone call depending on the participant's convenience. Every interview will be conducted for 25 to 30 minutes which will create a good platform for the interviewing session and ensure the participant is asked questions regarding their experiences, difficulties and solutions to the adoption of remote working policy.
In the quantitative part, data will be collected from seventy HR professionals working from the home section through an online structured questionnaire (Moens et al., 2021). Some examples of the questions that will be asked are demographic questions and questions about engagement levels, performance and the perceived advantages and difficulties of working from home. Two established instruments will be used in the survey: Self-developed questionnaires, accompanied by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), as the tool for engagement and the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (Koopmans et al., 2014) for the results of work performance. The questionnaire will be delivered through e-mail and through professional networks with the poll running for four weeks.
For the qualitative data, thematic analysis will be adopted; it will be used to analyze the in-depth interviews. The data collecting technique will be the conducting the interviews with the subjects and then physically writing down all the answers which were provided during the conversation, word by word, then going through the transcriptions and underlining what can be seen as patterns, common patterns, and key pieces of information about the participants’ experience with remote work. Thematic analysis of the data offers an opportunity to analyze the results of the study in a way that reflects the overall tendencies in the topics under discussion while revealing the intricacies of the issues that HR professionals face when working remotely. The narratives generated from the thematic analysis will then be employed in providing a comprehensive account of the respondents’ journey.
In the case of quantitative data, the analysis will be carried out using statistical tests via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences application software. Frequency analysis will be applied to the demographic variables data as well as to the assessment of participation and effectiveness of the survey participants. The correlation between remote work, engagement levels and performance outcomes will be inferential statistical methods; for example, regression analysis will be used to analyze this study’s hypotheses. These variables will illuminate important predictors of engagement and performance in remote work settings and generate hypotheses that can be generalised across different organizations and workforces.
It is important to state that ethical integrity is the main concern of this research. Each participant will be asked to sign consent where he or she will give consent to participate in the study with the researcher’s explanation to them of the purpose of the study as well as their rights. Privacy and anonymity will be upheld with data kept private and accessible only by the researchers. Personal data of participants collected during the study can be used only for research purposes and participants are free to withdraw at any time with no consequences on their part. Study participants are not going to receive distress because there are data protection regulations that will be adhered to such as GDPR.
There are some restrictions to the study. However, as a result of the sho sampling period, numbers were low, particularly for the qualitative part of the study and thus results may not be greatly generalizable. The use of self-reported data could also result in response bias hence low accuracy. The cross-sectional design only gets data at one time hence reducing the capability to infer causality. Besides, the common survey method of convenience sampling raises the issue of sample representativeness for the entire population of HR.
The current chapter provides descriptions of the sampling procedures, data collection and analysis methods in the study as a mixed-method design. Other areas of concern are the consideration of ethical importance such as the issues regarding consent as well as the aspect of confidentiality. Caveats have to do with used sample size, bias, and the study design of the research work in question are duly noted to give perspective to the results obtained.
This chapter provides the result of the research and then analyse the result with the previous literature of similar study. More specifically, the present chapter aims to discuss the effects of remote work on employees’ engagement, performance, and the HR practitioners’ experiences. The data collected is gathered based on semistructured interviews as well as a structured self-completion questionnaire which gives a systematic and composite understanding of the issues faced, how these are handled, and the support that is available for the remotely working HR professionals.
Descriptive statistics
Regarding the duration of working remotely, one has an average of 2 years of working remotely. Standard Deviation = 0 Mean = 39 years with workers mainly telecommuting. 804, which indicates the variability of the length of respondents’ remote work experience (Mäkikangas et al., 2022). Experience in the hr field in terms of mean is relatively higher with a value of 3. The average work experience of participants is 04 years, which means the participants are moderately experienced in Human Resources related roles.
Concerning job enthusiasm, the mean value is again a 3. Finally, there is an average score of 41 of the participants indicating moderate self-organised enthusiasm for their jobs but a relatively high standard deviation of 1. 257 which gives diverse levels of interest in respective subjects. Likewise, inspiration from the job has a mean of 3 concerning the analysis of the data and results obtained from the students (Swiecki et al., 2022). 51 and standard deviation;1. 294, they also posed the question of if people are encouraged then why do some not feel that way at all?
Performing happy while working and intensely has a mean score of 3. 81 which is slightly higher than the previous items showing that participants feel more positivity when involved in hard work (Alexander et al., 2021). However, its standard deviation was only 1. 386 the responses are varied. Achieving the job goals as per pre-determined standards has a mean score of 3. 96, which indicates that the majority of the participants perceive that they meet their job goals fairly well most of the time with a small variability of 1. 209.
Two subdomains of the remote work management model, namely time management and productivity received moderate ratings with means of 4. 09 and 4. 06, respectively (Etzel, Krey and Nagy, 2023). This means that most participants feel they can adequately control their time and they have an opinion that they are more productive with work when operating remotely (Etzel, Krey and Nagy, 2023). The lower standard deviations (1. 126 and 1. 190) show that there are small variations in different participants experience these types of experiences.
The general perception of working remotely brings attention to the following challenges which have a mean score of 3 that include. 73, with more of a spread or in other words, variability of 1. 793, which is quite a large difference, it means that there is variability in the participant’s experience in the challenges faced (Abarca, Sanchez and Camacho, 2021). Likewise, the advantages of working from home got a mean of 3. 34, with an SD = 1. 433, from which it can be observed that respondents experienced different perceived benefits ranging from 1 to 7.
There is a relatively high level of satisfaction with remote work with a mean of 4. 33 with standard deviation stands at 0. 880, which means that the majority of the participants are not dissatisfied with their remote work status. More importantly, the support from the organization during remote working also had a mean of 4. 27, this reveals that most of the participants feel well supported by their organisations (Abarca, Sanchez and Camacho, 2021). The standard deviation of 0. 977 indicates that there are differences in the level of perceived support from most of the participants.
Correlation
The first hypothesis is about job enthusiasm; there is a moderate positive significant relationship between job enthusiasm and feeling inspired by the job (r = . 304, p< . 05), which means that those employees who feel inspired by the job are also enthusiastic about the job will be true (Cabrita and Duarte, 2023). Nevertheless, job enthusiasm has low significant associations with other factors such as happiness when working intensely and time management, therefore it can be concluded that enthusiasm does not have a close relation with other aspects as assumed.
Inspiration for a job is related to several factors as shown below. It has a moderate positive relationship with happiness while working hard [t (509) = 5. 291, p < . 01) and efficient time management [t (509) = 5. 387, p < . 01). This of course implies that such factors as inspiration are significant for effective time management when a person works intensively and for happiness in those periods (Cabrita and Duarte, 2023). In addition, the positive, yet low relationship between inspiration and maintenance of goals – though significant at. 01 level of significance (r = . 311) – points to the significance of inspiration to work objectives.
Optimum happiness when people work hard is positively related to achievement of job targets (r = . 367, p < . 01) and time management (r = . 372, p < . 01). That is why people who are satisfied with their job working in a stress mode are more likely to succeed in achieving their aims and keep a proper work schedule, which proves the correlation between hedonic processes in work and increased effectiveness.
Respondents’ definition of productivity is closely associated with time management efficiency, r =. 386, p < They do not consider the number of hours at work, r =. 083, p > . 05. It can therefore be deemed that effective time management is an important determinant that is key to improving productivity in this mode of working (Cabrita and Duarte, 2023). Notably, these correlations are even lower for other factors such as job enthusiasm and inspiration suggesting that although these factors are critical, they do not contribute to productivity as much as does time management (Purwanto and Rostiani, 2022). The responses elicited on the challenges experienced while working remotely do not bear any significant relationship with other factors, implying that the hardship of HR professionals in remote environments may not be related to other factors such as excitement in the work environment, inspiration or organisation time (Purwanto and Rostiani, 2022). This could mean that the challenges are perhaps activity or context-related rather than being a defector of attitude or behaviour.
This means that the basic advantages of remote work do not directly relate to most of other factors, which may imply that though employees may see the advantages of remote work as flexibility, these are not enough to enhance staff engagement or productivity on their own. Total remote work satisfaction is only significantly related to perceived organisational support (r = . 282, p < . 05). This goes to show that the organisation's support is central to improving the satisfaction rate among the employees working remotely (Sadeghi and Terum, 2022). In case a particular employee has perceived support, his/her total remote work satisfaction will be higher.
Regression analysis
In the regression analysis, the focus is shifted from correlates to overall satisfaction with telework (Athanasiadou and Theriou, 2021). The linear coefficient which is equivalent to the slope is 1 while the constant or the y-intercept is 3. 809 represents the intercept term in the equation, which gives the baseline satisfaction when all the predictors are assumed to be zero. Of the predictors tested, perceived support from the organization when working from home is significant, β = 0. 264 and a p-value of 0 was recorded with the test. 022 (Athanasiadou and Theriou, 2021). This means that organizational support significantly positively affects the overall satisfaction with remote work, as shown by the standardized beta coefficient of 0. 293.
Some of the other variables like happiness when working intensely, time management, job enthusiasm and job inspiration do not correlate with the level of overall satisfaction (Serap Kalfaoğlu, 2024). When working intensely the coefficient for happiness is -0. It was 055, with a p-value of 0. 520, which suggests a non-significant negative effect but was nonetheless significantly different from zero, the benchmark for a null effect. Co-efficient of Time management = 0. 112, the p-value of 0. 288 they have observed only a non-significant negative effect on mediator 3 and mediator 6 of value. thus the coefficients of ‘Job enthusiasm’ and ‘Job inspiration’ are -0. 021 and 0. 036, thus making the p-value of all the variables in the model to be less than 0.05. 816 and 0. 689 respectively both of which are non-significant (Serap Kalfaoğlu, 2024). From these findings, it follows that among all the tested variables only the organizational support has a positive impact on the overall satisfaction with the remote work.
The ANOVA table also shows the overall fit of the regression by providing a statistic and probability (Brereton, 2019). For comparison, the sum of squares for the regression equals to 6. The MS for between groups is 108 and the degrees of freedom for between groups is 5 while those for within groups is 270 and its degrees of freedom is 95 thus giving us a mean square of 1.222. The value of the residual sum of squares is equal to 47. 335 with 64 DF which gives a mean square of Furthermore, a value of From this calculated value, it can be derived that and Similarly, the between the sum of squares can be calculated by the value of From this, it is possible to derive that and 740 (Brereton, 2019). The F-statistic for the model is 1 . 652 with a P value of 0. 159. This p-value also means that the overall model is not statistically significant at the conventional level (p < 0.05) which implies that the independent variables do not account for a significant proportion of the variance in overall satisfaction with remote work.
| Theme | Sub-Theme | Code | Associated Interview Questions | Example Participant Responses |
| Daily Work Structure | Typical Workday | DW1 | Can you describe your typical workday as an HR professional working remotely? | "I begin with checking my emails and participating in 2-3 virtual meetings..." (Participant 1) |
| "A typical day in my work might start with a team briefing on priorities..." (Participant 2) | ||||
| Challenges of Remote Work | Communication Difficulties | CR1 | What are the most significant challenges you face while working remotely in your HR role? | "The biggest difficulties include communication through the computer..." (Participant 1) |
| Maintaining Team Cohesion | CR2 | "It is difficult to stay on the same page with everyone..." (Participant 2) | ||
| Lack of In-Person Interaction | CR3 | "One disadvantage of remote work is that it is more difficult to maintain interest..." (Participant 4) | ||
| Impact on Engagement and Motivation | Decreased Motivation | EM1 | How has remote work impacted your ability to stay engaged and motivated in your job? | "Morale becomes an issue since there’s no physical office to report to..." (Participant 1) |
| Feeling of Isolation | EM2 | "I often do not feel like part of the team, and this lowers my ability to work passionately..." (Participant 2) | ||
| Performance Enhancement Strategies | Structured Schedules | PS1 | What strategies do you use to maintain or enhance your performance while working remotely? | "I speak with my team at fixed intervals and abide by a schedule..." (Participant 1) |
| Taking Breaks | PS2 | "I take breaks to avoid burnout..." (Participant 5) | ||
| Use of Technology for Task Management | PS3 | "I apply various online tools to manage tasks..." (Participant 7) | ||
| Organizational Support | Provision of Tools and Resources | OS1 | In what ways has your organization supported you in your remote HR role? | "Tools and software have been supplied by my organization..." (Participant 1) |
| Flexible Working Hours | OS2 | "The company has been supportive by allowing flexible hours..." (Participant 2) | ||
| Mental Health and Well-being Support | OS3 | "Adequate care about mental health and well-being..." (Participant 6) |
Table 4.1: Quantitative data coding
8 Years | MA
Theme 1: Daily Work Structure
The issue of “Daily Work Structure” is what is explained by the HR professionals regarding the structure of their work day whilst working from home (Hilton, Burke and Signal, 2022). To begin with, using email and organising the priority of tasks that need to be completed are on the agenda, then followed by virtual meetings, which take most of the employees’ time (Hilton, Burke and Signal, 2022). Such sessions are usually channelled towards the management of team dynamics, staff matters and project coordination. The rest of the day is spent on such common activities as recruitment, payment of employees, and replying to their complaints among other things (Kaunisto, 2024). Finally, all the participants also stressed the fact that it is necessary to have activities such as reflecting on the set goals at the end of the working day and setting goals for the next working day; This routine allows employees to reduce stress and be disciplined on what to do during the day during work from home (Wang et al., 2021). The relative consistency also helps the HR professionals organise themselves and it also makes certain that important tasks are done properly. However, this comes at a disadvantage because people mostly have to attend virtual meetings making it difficult to get flawless consistent productivity period (Wang et al., 2021). Still, the main strategy for addressing multifaceted issues of remote HR activity and effectiveness seems to focus on the structuring of the daily working schedule.
Theme 2 Challenges of Remote Work
The topic of “Challenges of Remote Work” reveals the problems of an HR specialist in a remote environment and communication issues (Saura, Ribeiro-Soriano and Zegarra Saldaña, 2022). Text-based communication seemed to be the big headache that participants often described as difficult given that they could not meet face-to-face. This results in poor communication and consequently, the inability to deal with problems as they occur and this hampers the development of trust between employer and employees (Saura, Ribeiro-Soriano and Zegarra Saldaña, 2022). However, one of the major concerns with this approach is the communication and coordination of the team since working virtually eliminates face-to-face interactions. Another problem mentioned by the HR professionals was related to motivation and motivation control in the virtual environment as communication absence results in the employee’s demotivation (Nazeer et al., 2023). Other factors such as the survival of organizational culture outside the office setting make it even more complicated to deal with these concerns (Nazeer et al., 2023). Therefore, these challenges raise the possibility that new approaches and methodologies shall be adopted by HR professionals to cover the aspects of communication and interaction as well as teamwork and engagement in conditions of remote work.
Theme 3: Impact on Engagement and Motivation
The “Impact on Engagement and Motivation” theme presents how remote work influences the disloyal engrossment and motivation of HR professionals (Haque, 2023). Employees spoke of ‘It is harder to remain enthusiastic while working from home because people cannot interact face-to-face as done in the workplace, which has a way of challenging everyone to perform better (Haque, 2023).’ Loneliness which is experienced from working at home reduces the feeling of belonging to a certain team and therefore reduces the level of energy and vigor of performing tasks for the team. Several participants added that the lack of direct interactions and spontaneous conversations which employees experience when working in an organizational office contributes to the lack of identification with the organization and its objectives (Jämsen, Sivunen and Blomqvist, 2022). This disconnection can lead to reduced awareness of the organisation’s greater goals thus indicating further distortion of motivation. However, it can be seen that issues related to remote working have not been seen as a mixed picture for only some of the HR professionals have been able to develop coping mechanisms at the personal level, but according to the overall trend, remote working has been pointed out as a considerable barrier to retain similar level of engagement and motivation as obtained when people are working from the office (van Zoonen, Sivunen and Blomqvist, 2023).
Theme 4: Performance Enhancement Strategies
Based on the topic addressed as “Performance Enhancement Strategies,” participants shared various strategies that they use to attain or enhance their work performance while practising remote working (Rumeau, Grosprêtre and Babault, 2023). One of them is to plan the workday obligations in a neat schedule to have better control over the day and tasks in general. Some of the other concerns that arose from the participants included the need to take a break to avoid getting exhausted and be productive when working (Aust et al., 2024). Also, technology was cited as a common measure of how being organized entails the use of applications that can help one manage tasks and track projects to guarantee that they meet their due dates (Aust et al., 2024). These tools help in the organization of some of the work through workload Balancing even without office-related physical amenities. Another contributing factor in this regard is communication, especially with the other members of the team entailing daily or weekly meetings (Cunningham, Kittel and Larkin, 2024). Altogether, all the abovementioned measures can be attributed to the problem-solving approach towards the management of the difficulties arising from remote work while maintaining the integrity and relevance of the set performance indicators.
Theme 5: Organisational Support
The theme of “Organizational Support” deals with measures through which organisations have supported HR professionals in their transitions to the new mode of working from home (Kohont and Ignjatović, 2022). There was a lot of emphasis on the provision of appropriate information and communication technology equipment such as software for communication and working with the tasks in the project. Having access to technology has helped HR professionals to keep on doing their jobs from home (Kohont and Ignjatović, 2022). Also, many organizations have provided flexible working hours that have been highly welcomed by HR professionals since they enable them to work according to their schedules (Shirmohammadi, Au and Beigi, 2022). Leadership that attends to its corporate communication by holding virtual meetings as well as sending updates to the workers has also been effective in helping the workers to feel as though they are not alone during their period of adjusting to remote working (Shirmohammadi, Au and Beigi, 2022). In addition, some participants pointed out that their organizations have shown concern with employees’ mental health and provided necessities like professional counselling and health promotion programs (Amina Raza Malik, Laxmikant Manroop and Harrison, 2024). All these efforts have gone a long way in aiding HR professionals to overcome the challenges of working from home as well as ensuring that they do not lose steam.
These themes are discussed in detail below based on the findings from the qualitative interviews conducted with the HR professionals (Naeem et al., 2023). Members emphasised the role of organisational support for it underwent unanimous acclamation as an essential determinant of participants’ morale and performance. A large number of participants also observed that access to necessary tools, receiving regular communication from leadership and having organizational emotional support, improved their experience of remote work (Naeem et al., 2023). The present studies are in parallel with the quantitative outcome that suggested that organisational support is one of the most influential factors that shape overall satisfaction towards teleworking.
The interviews also revealed some of the issues, which include; barriers to communication, social cohesiveness of the team, and relational media communication style, which was devoid of face-to-face contact (Dunwoodie, Macaulay and Newman, 2022). These challenges were described often but did not turn into major factors influencing satisfaction in the quantitative analysis. This implies that though these concerns are genuine and they have an effect these studies may not generalize to the overall satisfaction especially when other factors like organizational support are partial (Dunwoodie, Macaulay and Newman, 2022). Participants also shared how they feel effective in addressing the issues associated with telework including creating schedules dealing with the organisation of work; and the utilization of tools to organize tasks, which depict a problem-solving attitude towards the working environment.
Notably, job enthusiasm and inspiration were identified as crucial for personal motivation and job satisfaction during the interviews (Cayrat and Boxall, 2023). Yet, the quantitative approach revealed that those factors are not direct predictors of overall satisfaction. This implies that although job enthusiasm and inspiration are recognized to be important by the employees, it may not necessarily mean that the level of satisfaction that employees have for the remote working model that is in place depends on the level of support received from the organisation (Cayrat and Boxall, 2023).
The quantitative analysis also strengthens the significance of organisational support as it was also found to have a high positive correlation with overall satisfaction regarding remote work (García-Salirrosas et al., 2023). The analysis of this study also supported the hypothesis that organizational support outperformed other factors including job enthusiasm, time utilization management and job inspiration as a predictor of job satisfaction (Kurdy, Al-Malkawi and Rizwan, 2023). This is important for HR practices as it suggests that attempts to make employee’s remote work more satisfying should be concentrated on improving the organizational support available to such workers.
Quantitative findings revealed that organizational support was the most significant variable and other variables like, happiness during intense work and efficient time management of their work were least important in predicting overall satisfaction (Kurdy, Al-Malkawi and Rizwan, 2023). This might suggest that although these factors explain some of the daily realities of remote work, they do not explain much about satisfaction. As highlighted by the above finding, in the context of this study, the perceived organisational support incorporated in the emotional or practical support has a greater role to play concerning perceived job satisfaction.
Non-significance of the overall regression model indicates that there are predictors which have not been included in the study and which have an impact on the satisfaction levels about remote work (Kossen and van der Berg, 2022). There could be attributes like work-life balance, nature of the work done, individual situation etc which are not captured in this assessment.
This chapter also described the results from the regression test that was conducted and the implications of these results. It found that organisational support contributed the highest percentage toward overall satisfaction with remote work among HR professionals. Other variables like job enthusiasm, inspiration, time management and happiness during intensive work did not yield a reasonable correlation with satisfaction; these may not be very vital in the context of the remote working environment. The overall model was not very adequate in explaining the variance in satisfaction and therefore other factors may be required to be taken into consideration in the subsequent studies.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
5.1 Conclusion
The effects of the different factors on the perceived satisfaction of HR professionals with remote work were discussed in this study, using both interview and survey methodologies (Ali et al., 2023). This study wanted to examine the possible antecedents of remote work satisfaction and to give organisations concrete advice for improving remote work experience.
The study reaffirms that organisational support is one of the most significant predictors of overall satisfaction of HR professionals who are teleworking. This is underlined both by qualitative and quantitative results suggesting that feeling supported by the organisation is highly valuable. Such support includes the provision of the appropriate equipment and materials, concise and comprehensible signals from the management, and recognition of the employee by the organization as well as its comprehension of the employee’s problems (Raj et al., 2023). The strong positive relationship between organisational support and overall satisfaction explains that, if HR professionals receive organisational support in their workplace, they find more satisfaction with telecommuting irrespective of other obstacles.
On the contrary, factors like job enthusiasm, job inspiration, efficient time management and feeling happy at work when work is tight did not give significant prediction to overall satisfaction regarding the job as found in the quantitative section (Turi et al., 2022). Although Anbi mentioned all these factors as being important in the qualitative interviews for understanding motivation on a personal level and work experience daily, none of them cross-tabulated with expressed overall satisfaction in the statistical model (Raj et al., 2023). Based on this result, it could be concluded that, although these factors shape the everyday practice of remote work, they are subordinate to the phenomenon of organizational support.
Based on the quantitative analysis, the regression model developed was not significant hence, was incapable of predicting the total variance in general satisfaction with remote work; this may mean that other influencing factors were not captured in this study (Wells et al., 2023). There are still characteristics of the participants that can be further elaborated in future studies, including work-life balance, a specific type of work, personal resources, and circumstances.
Applying the analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data allows having a holistic view of remote work satisfaction. The first set of insights provides the quantitative picture which underlines the general importance of organizational support for the strained professionals while the second section highlights the personal experiences of HR professionals, the challenges they face and the coping mechanisms adopted (Wells et al., 2023). Taken together, they indicate that more satisfied employees could be attained by focusing on developing the framework for supporting remote workers by meeting their needs that are logistic and psychological.
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5.2 Recommendations
Enhance Organizational Support Systems
According to the study, supervisory support is the strongest indicator of overall satisfaction with telework (Blahopoulou et al., 2022). The organisations should ensure that they employ extensive support structures such as communication, availability of work kits as well as the availability of strong health undertakings (Blahopoulou et al., 2022). It may consist of actions such as checking in with employees more often, offering simple and transparent ways of communication, and equipping employees with proper tools for their work from home.
Promote Culture of Trust and diversity in the organisation
Working from home can also have its drawbacks and one of them includes lack of interaction as employees feel a bit isolated. To address this challenge, there is a need to foster a strong culture of trust and workplace diversity (Turi et al., 2022). This can be achieved through permitting the availability of regular communication channels, supporting cross-organisational cooperation and providing incentives for home-based workers. Chiefly, the adoption of team-building exercises in a virtual environment and effective means of communication should be maintained to avoid creating a feeling of isolation among the employees in their respective geography (Turi et al., 2022).
Provide Flexible Work Arrangements
Remote work calls for deploying lenient schedules and arrangements since telephone line working presents an alternative work style (Van Zoonen and Sivunen, 2021). Employers should come up with flexible working conditions, which enable their workers to better account for their social and family responsibilities. Thus flexibility does not only increase satisfaction with the workplace and job but also leads to increased performance because of better time organization.
Despite the contributions this research provides to the understanding of factors affecting satisfaction of remote work for HR professionals, the following research directions are available for future study. First, future research should explore more variables influencing satisfaction with remote employment, including work-life balance, personal resources, quality of the technologies employed, and types of tasks remotely executed. Venturing into any of these aspects might give the needed insights into identifying factors that lead to satisfaction in work that is done online.
More preferably Longitudinal research would be helpful to see how the satisfaction with remote work changes over time. If quantitative data was taken at different points in the year, or over some time, trends could be easily seen and the effect of remote working over the long term on the employees’ overall satisfaction and productivity could be understood. It would also assist in establishing the long-term profitability and feasibility of current remote work practices.
References
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