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Worker Agency versus Wellbeing in the Enforced Work-From-Home Arrangement during COVID-19: A Labour Process Analysis

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  • Sheldon M. Bromfield

    (Adult Education and Community Development, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, 6th and 7th Floor, Toronto, ON M5S 1V6, Canada)

Abstract

This article offers a theorization based on selected literature focused on problematizing the work-from-home phenomenon. It incorporates labour process theory and the work-from-home literature to dissect the impact of enforced working from home procedures during COVID-19. The article presents the advantages to working from home from the existing work-from-home literature and draws on labour process theory to challenge these advantages. The disadvantages discussed in this article include constant availability, enhanced productivity with unpaid labour, loss of worker subjectivity, identity conflicts, and extracting productivity while downloading costs of production to workers. While the advantages include enhanced autonomy, reduction in unproductive time and increased affordances in participation, empowerment and worker agency, the article weighs the potential, parallel impacts of worker control and reduction in personal wellbeing. Although it seems that the work-from-home arrangement is, predominantly, here to stay, I argue that workers consent to their demise, as the dark side of enforced work-from-home arrangements detract from the benefits of in-person social relations of work and learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Sheldon M. Bromfield, 2022. "Worker Agency versus Wellbeing in the Enforced Work-From-Home Arrangement during COVID-19: A Labour Process Analysis," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:13:y:2022:i:1:p:11-:d:772949
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nick & Davis, Steven J., 2020. "Why Working From Home Will Stick," SocArXiv wfdbe, Center for Open Science.
    2. Sherrill W. Hayes & Jennifer L. Priestley & Brian A. Moore & Herman E. Ray, 2021. "Perceived Stress, Work-Related Burnout, and Working From Home Before and During COVID-19: An Examination of Workers in the United States," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    3. Satu Kalliola & Salme Mahlakaarto, 2020. "Methods of Promoting Professional Agency at Work," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Yvonne Lott, 2020. "Does Flexibility Help Employees Switch Off from Work? Flexible Working-Time Arrangements and Cognitive Work-to-Home Spillover for Women and Men in Germany," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 471-494, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Satu Kalliola & Tuula Heiskanen, 2022. "Challenges in Work and Employment during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-5, November.
    2. Alexandra Xan C. H. Nowakowski, 2023. "Same Old New Normal: The Ableist Fallacy of “Post-Pandemic” Work," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 16-25.

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