Understanding the relationship between remote-working employees’ well-being and job-effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic

While extensive research has been done to understand the relationship between employees’ wellbeing and job-effectiveness, the research is limited and inconclusive for a remote-working context. This mixed-methods study investigates the unique context of COVID-19-induced remote working to understand that relationship and its influencing factors, and help shape remote working in the future. The research was carried out at a medium-size, not-for-profit organization, using a subjective assessment for measuring employees’ job-effectiveness and four sub-variables to measure their well-being: job satisfaction, stress level, work-life balance, and general health. The study finds a positive correlation between employees’ well-being and job-effectiveness; however, the results indicate a stronger correlation for decline in well-being and job-effectiveness. It identifies three types of factors which have impacted the employees’ well-being and jobeffectiveness while working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic: organizational (organisational support and preparedness, communication, and job type), external (caring responsibilities, lack of social interaction, closed activities, and travel restrictions) and individual (personality traits, lack of commute, healthy habits, career stage/skill level, home-working environment, and time-planning flexibility and control). The study proposes a set of recommendations for practitioners in relation to remote working, including adopting a flexible approach that allows for individual differences.