What is it about?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home (WFH) became a new norm despite such a working arrangement is less favorable in Indonesia in the past. The enforced WFH practice may decrease employees' productivity because potential increased of stressors. Using an online survey, we collected 472 data of Indonesian employees. We used the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS) to measure employees' well-being and the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire to evaluate their productivity. We found that Indonesian employees reported relatively low stress in parallel with high self-reported productivity. Our data support that mental well-being is a strong predictor of work performance.
Featured Image
Photo by Standsome Worklifestyle on Unsplash
Why is it important?
We provide preliminary data on the implementation of WFH or telework in a developing country, Indonesia which was not popular in the past, particularly due to challenges such as high context culture, lack of equipment to perform the jobs, and limited internet connection. This study provides insight into the potential implementation of WFH as a future working arrangement in Indonesia after the pandemic. Organizations should identify the occupational and individual characteristics which are suitable for such working practice as well as mitigate the stressors to maintain employees work-related outcomes.
Perspectives
This is my first research employing a survey design because the pandemic situation restricted me from conducting experimental design with humans as subjects. I kept asking how could I contribute to society during the pandemic and after doing preliminary research I found that no quantitative empirical studies conducting to evaluate WFH arrangement. Most studies were qualitative in nature, employing less rigid methodology, and recruiting a small sample size. It took much time (yet worth it) to learn many new things such as developing a questionnaire, learning structural equation modeling with R, reading new topics intensely. I hope you enjoy reading it, feedback is welcome
Auditya Purwandini Sutarto
Universitas Qomaruddin Gresik
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Work from home: Indonesian employees' mental well-being and productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, International Journal of Workplace Health Management, May 2021, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/ijwhm-08-2020-0152.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
