“How COVID-19 has shaped remote working” A critical examination of the impacts of COVID-19 on remote workers in the pharmaceutical industry

Byrne, Rachael (2021) “How COVID-19 has shaped remote working” A critical examination of the impacts of COVID-19 on remote workers in the pharmaceutical industry. Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

COVID-19 has disrupted workplaces across the globe in a variety of ways. To reduce the spread of the virus, most places of work have been forced to find new, effective, and safer means of operating their businesses. To hinder the amount of social interaction between employee’s and people in general, remote working has become the ‘new normal’. Working from home has been an option in many companies for many years, however, what was previously circumstantial to employee’s preference, is now a requisite. The result is Mandatory Work from Home (MWFH) (Kniffin, KM et al. 2021). This change in workplace setting provides several themes to be considered. These include, health and wellbeing, loneliness, family life and work-life balance, work productivity, privacy, technological factors, and an appropriate and adequate working space and environment.

Prior to the global pandemic, working from home was based off a voluntary nature, meaning workers chose at their own discretion whether to work remotely (Lapierre, cited in Wang et al. 2021). According to a survey conducted by the ESRI (2020), 14% of the Irish workforce “sometimes” worked from home. Working remotely was an amenity of the affluent (DeSilver, cited in Wang et al. 2021). Due to this, the research on working from home has suffered a selection bias, this study aims to explore how COVID-19 has shaped or is shaping remote working and how the mandatory nature of it has affected office employees. The question is posed; When this choice is taken away from workers, how does it affect their performance as well as their wellbeing?

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management > Human Resource Management H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work H Social Sciences > Economics > Microeconomics > Production (Economic theory) > Industrial productivity > Labor productivity H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work > Quality of Work Life / Job Satisfaction
Divisions:	School of Business > Master of Arts in Human Resource Management
Depositing User:	Clara Chan
Date Deposited:	12 Jan 2022 17:13
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2022 17:16
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/5281

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