It’s the time of the year when organisations look back on what they have done in the past year and actively plan for the next quarter. A new year usually symbolises renewed energy and optimism. But 2020 has hit different. Previous budgets in the good old days may not come to fruition. Hiring freezes and layoffs occurred across many sectors. Companies find themselves having to re-strategise at a pace faster than they might have been comfortable with. The pandemic situation has shown improvement in some regions. News on vaccine development have been reassuring. Still, the outlook for the year 2021 remains relatively dreary. Experts believe that COVID-19 is staying with us for some time yet.
Coupled with employees reporting decreased mental health in 2020, managers now face new challenges stepping into the new year, on top of the regular concerns. According to a Qualtrics study in Singapore in April 2020, 26 per cent of the employees surveyed reported a decrease in mental health. Out of these, 25 per cent reported a decrease in mental well-being due to stress, 22 per cent due to anxiety, 19 per cent due to job insecurity, 7 per cent due to fatigue, and 6 per cent due to work-from-home arrangements.
According to a study by Mercer South and East Asia in April 2020, work-from-home arrangements have been especially hard for managers, with 39 per cent of managers reporting that they were less effective at work than before, compared to 22 per cent of non-managers.
What is the relationship between working from home and mental health? A 2017 study on job connectedness that I did with Professor Remus Ilies from the National University of Singapore might have the answer. The study sought to understand employees’ attitudes to using ICT devices to attend to work matters remotely i.e. to be connected to the job. It was funded by the Ministry of Social and Family Development to examine how using technology for work can affect work-family boundaries and personal well-being.
This experience sampling study surveyed 115 employees working full-time in Singapore, asking them to respond to questionnaires three times a day over the course of one week. The analysis showed that job connectedness on its own did not have significant effects on well-being. The relationships, however, changed when we look at the fit between employees’ values and the current work arrangement.
Job connectedness led to increased well-being (higher job satisfaction, lower burnout, and lower work-family conflict), when engaging in such behaviour was done voluntarily by employees. When connecting to the job via ICT devices was involuntary, employees experienced lower levels of well-being.
In other words, when employees, on their own accord, connect to work matters remotely, that brings them higher satisfaction. Plausibly, this is because employees feel empowered, motivated and in control of their work tasks and career trajectory. Choosing when and where to do their work can account for conflicts in their personal and family schedules as well.
However, when the connection to the job was involuntary, this was detrimental to employees’ mental health and personal well-being. Work-family conflict and the feeling of burn-out were exacerbated, and job satisfaction was reduced. A 2020 study that I did with Assistant Professor Lucas Monzani from the Ivey Business School found that when being connected to the job is perceived as an obligation, or as an additional demand, technology is not as welcomed by employees.
Did the employee sense that he has to reply to that email while attending to the crying toddler at home? Did the individual have to pick up that phone call when she was making lunch? Depending on signals received by employees from their organisations, using ICT devices for remote work can be helpful or dreadful.
In most cases, alternative work arrangements were made possible for the employees in this study. Organisations provided resources like laptops, mobile phones, and flexible working hours. One might think that this is the one-size-fits-all answer: provide the resources, and employees will use technology to get to work. But the answer goes beyond providing resources. It is all about fit. Do employees want to connect to the job remotely? This gives them greater flexibility in fulfilling work and family duties. Or do they wish to keep the job and family separate? For some others, having a hard cut-off time for work gives them the freedom to fully immerse in family and social activities.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and mandatory work-from-home arrangements across non-essential services, employees did not have the chance to choose whether being digitally connected to the job is the right arrangement for them. Their values were not aligned with the company’s new ones, and they did not have time to adjust.
Many knowledge workers have engaged in flexible work or remote work in one way or another prior to the pandemic, but the reality is: very few of them did this full-time. According to the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics, only 5 per cent of workers were working virtually full-time, whereas the percentage was 6 per cent in the European Union. Th sudden shift to full-time remote work meant that employees quickly lost their ability to appreciate face-to-face interactions with colleagues, leading to feelings of isolation and decline in mental health. Employees entered an organisation thinking they were a good fit with the company’s culture of teamwork and work-life balance, only to find themselves alone and having to mix work with family.
So, how should managers enter 2021? The answer lies in ensuring fit. The COVID-19 pandemic has tested companies’ ability to be agile and to embrace digital technology. When hiring new talent, recruiters should ensure that agility and resilience are among the top criteria for selection. For their current talent, managers should ensure that employees are equipped with the necessary training to conduct their work tasks effectively using technology and ICT devices. This goes beyond technical skills and should include soft skills like effective virtual communication, email etiquette, and ground rules for video conferences.
Understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all answer is a first step. Take time to understand employees’ needs and preferences with regards to using technology to work from home. Often, accompanying provision of resources with clear communication will help. For instance, managers could allay employees’ concerns by saying that a work mobile phone does not mean the employee will have to be contactable 24 hours a day. By demarcating specific timings or tasks for which the mobile phone will be used, managers help to reduce anxiety associated with job connectedness, as employees know they have opportunities to disconnect and unwind from work. Managers themselves need to embrace technology to conduct their work more effectively.
With more trust, empathy, and clearer (virtual) communication with employees, companies can still stick to their yearly resolution: The next year will be the best year ever.