SSRN Id3643890
SSRN Id3643890
SSRN Id3643890
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Empirical Evidence from Bahrain
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Budoor Al-Marzooqi1 Fatema Al-Aamer2
June 2020
Abstract
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Since the official declaration of the coronavirus/covid-19 spread an international pandemic
by the World Health Organization-WHO on the 11th of March 2020 (WHO,2020), the
government of the Kingdom of Bahrain adopted the work-from-home option for numerous
jobs and organizations in order to activate social distancing and race with time in combating
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the local spread of the virus. This situation presents a large-scale experiment, and a field of
research opportunity to understand work-from-home from diverse perspectives.
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Objective: The objective of this study is to survey worker perceptions on the work-from-home
experience during the pandemic and explore its future as a permanent option for some jobs
and special circumstances. 3 hypotheses are used; H1: Workers are highly satisfied with their
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experience in working from home, H2: Respondents find working from home an
advantageous option, H3: Views on working from home will differ significantly by gender.
Methodology: Quantitative approach was used, devising a self-administered questionnaire
including 24 multiple choice questions. Cronbach Alpha was calculated at 0.737 to test for
internal consistency. 2 expert views on the questionnaire were sought for content validity.
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Google Forms Application was utilized to automate the questionnaire and distribute it
through social media channels. A total of 219 responses were gathered and analyzed.
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1
Budoor Y. Almarzooqi ([email protected]) is an independent researcher. Her research interests lie in
public policy, labour economics, and behavioral management of organizations. While heading the research
section in the Labour Market Regulatory Authority 2008-2017, her research in labour economics was designed
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to inform strategic labour policy decisions, as well as her research on financial management of commercial
aviation in Gulf Air 2018-2020. Budoor’s educational profile includes BSc. in Accounting from University of
Bahrain, PGD in Organizational Psychology by Birkbeck – University of London, and Executive Leadership at
Saiid Business School - University of Oxford, and Chartered Management Institute-UK.
ORCID publisher ID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2905-2547
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2
Fatema A. Alaamer ([email protected]) is an independent researcher. Her experience lies in process design
and reengineering. She played a pivotal role in designing processes at the establishment stage of the Labour
Market Regulatory Authority balancing business requirements, regulatory framework, and ISO 9001 guidelines.
Her research interest in performance management stems from her work in launching the performance appraisal
system of civil servants- Ada’a Program during her placement in the Civil Service Bureau. Fatema’s educational
profile includes BSc. in Marketing Management from Kingdom University, and MBA from University of
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Strathclyde. In addition to professional certification in: Quality Management from the Chartered Quality
Institute-UK, & Data Analysis for Management from London School of Economic and Political Science, LSE.
ORCID publisher ID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4143-916X
This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
Results: H1 was accepted as 95% of the respondents who worked from home were satisfied,
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of which 71% being strongly satisfied. Interestingly, 86% of the respondents that are working
from home noticed an improvement in their productivity. H2: was accepted using one-tail t-
test at 0.05 error level. H3 was rejected using 2 tail t-test at 0.05 error level.
Originality and Limitation: This study provides historical empirical evidence gathered on a
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worldwide experiment of working from home during an international pandemic of a scale that
appears every 100 years. It is the first study to provide empirical evidence of worker
perceptions on the experience, given that the majority of concurrent research used pre-
gathered labour data to estimate the number of jobs that can survive the pandemic using
work-from-home option. In contrast to past research findings raising concern with work-life
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balance, results show that 94% of the respondents agreed that work-from-home aids in
balancing work and life responsibilities, suggesting that a status of work-life integration was
experienced during the pandemic.
Considering the size of the phenomenon, the researchers suggest considering this study
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exploratory in nature. Future studies in Bahrain can survey the perceptions of policy makers,
HR professionals, and line managers, and employing differing data collection tools such as in-
experience.
Introduction and Literature Review:
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depth-interviews and focus groups to create a multidimensional holistic view of the
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Research on work-from-home, or as commonly abbreviated WFH can be broadly categorized
into 2 eras, the first is pre Covid 19 Pandemic where the interest was in organizational benefits
on job satisfaction and loyalty, and worker well-being concerns such as work-life-balance.
Research during the pandemic, which has not ended to date of this research, relies massively
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on pre-gathered data through national surveys such as the census, Labour Force Survey, and
Time Use Surveys. The analyses are conducted to size the proportion of the economy that can
survive the pandemic by activating work-from-home option. These studies specified types of
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jobs that can be done from home, identifying industries and economic sectors that hold these
jobs. Below is a quick display of the findings.
Studies on working from home before Covid 19 Pandemic:
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Overall, descriptive evidence suggested that work-from-home was on a growth trend before
the beginning of Covid 19 Pandemic. Research in the United Kingdom showed that starting
2006, the number of workers working from home has increased by 20% (Felstead & Henseke,
2017).
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In 2015, an experiment was conducted on a large Chinese travel agency company with 16,000
employees, in which a group of call center employees were chosen to work-from-home for
nine months on self-selection basis. Results showed that working from home resulted in 13%
performance increase in productivity; displayed by increase of minutes worked per shift,
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higher number of calls taken per minute, and fewer breaks and sick leaves. This was attributed
to improved work conditions at home such as quiet and convenience. In addition, home
This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
workers reported improved work satisfaction, and their retention rate doubled (Bloom et al.,
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2015).
In the same direction, a significantly higher level of effort was reported by home workers,
including investing beyond formal working hours to get the job done. In the same time home
workers reported higher level of excitement and stimulation with their work, as well as
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significantly higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Felstead & Henseke,
2017).
Felstead & Henseke (2017) review of literature displayed evidence that working from home
has advantages for both employee and employer; employers can navigate easier in
knowledge-based economies with home workers, decrease costs, and increase organizational
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flexibility. Furthermore, the advantages gained by home workers include improved job
satisfaction, organizational loyalty, and productivity (Bloom et al., 2015). On the other side,
adverse impacts found on home workers’ psychological well‐being, due to over‐working and
lack of time for replenish one’s energy and concentration (Grant et al., 2013).
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Spillover between work and family domains is one of the largest concerns with work from
home. Workers cannot switch off, not only due to prolonged working hours, but also due to
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place of work and personal life being the same. When workers perform in the office place, the
commuting process from and to work contribute to preparing the worker psychologically to
transfer from one domain to another; work and life. The change in place and atmosphere
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provokes different moods, emotions and thoughts, in addition to mingling with colleagues
which provokes a variety of conversations. Hence, a higher fence between work and family
domains starts building and making the spillover less likely. This debate of work-life conflict
versus integration is well researched in organizational psychology and is beyond the scope of
this paper. Nonetheless, a question about work like balance is included in our questionnaire
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provide consistent and insightful results. The pandemic was largely dependent on the capacity
of firms to maintain uninterrupted business processes, while a large portion of their
workforces’ switch to working from home (Alipour et al., 2020). The urgency of the situation
meeting lack of preparedness imposed lots of challenges. One example is where many
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employees are not equipped with laptops and remote access to the central network systems.
This lack of preparedness impaired organizations’ ability to continue working without
paralyzing interruption.
Using data gathered in national labour surveys such as census, labour force surveys, and
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administrative data, analyses were conducted on the nature of jobs to assess the ability of
This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
smoothly switching to work from home. And accordingly, the total number of jobs was
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estimated by economic sector.
Results established that the ability to work-from-home varies by economic sector.
Consistently in numerous countries, the finance sector (Alipour et al., 2020), corporate
management, and professional and scientific services (Dingel, 2020) sectors showed the
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higher readiness to shift to the work-from-home mode. On the other hand, agriculture, hotels
and restaurants, and retail sectors will suffer greater halts during the pandemic (Dingel, 2020)
due their inability to perform most of their jobs from home.
A one-question empirical study was conducted in the United States asking respondents to
report their working status during the pandemic. 25,000 responses were collected from a
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variety of states. Results showed that workers who switched to working from home during
the pandemic form 34.1% of the responses, in addition to 14.6% reporting they were already
working from home before the pandemic (Brynjolfsson, et al., 2020). Dingel (2020) confirmed
these results estimating that an upper bound of 37% of U.S. jobs can plausibly be performed
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at home using the American Time Use Survey 2018, which forms 46% share of total wages in
the economy.
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In Germany, Alipour et al. (2020) conducted the same assessment using the Employment
Survey 2018. A rough estimate showed that 56% of jobs in the economy can be performed
from home. Considerable variability by industry is also confirmed, where the percentage
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reaches 86% for the financial sector. A similar study showed that 36% of total jobs in
Norwegian economy can be performed at home (Holgersen et al., 2020).
In Malaysia, data suggests that work-from-home is possible for less than 30% of all workers
due to the arrangement being suitable for high-skill jobs only (Tumin, 2020). The percentage
falls sharply in developing countries; an analysis conducted using World Bank’s STEP survey
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indicated that a very small share of workers may feasibly carry out their jobs from home
reaching 6% in Ghana (Saltiel, 2020)
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In addition to the nature of jobs, researchers sought variables that describe home worker
demographics. Consistently, positive correlations of the findings were established between
jobs that could be performed from and home and skill level, educational level and wage level
(Alipour et al., 2020). The higher is the educational level and the higher is the wage, the larger
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al., 2020). Although, statistical significance is not yet established at 95% confidence interval
(Brynjolfsson at al., 2020). Expectedly, work-life balance comes back as concern in the longer
run for female workers, especially if their partners cannot work-from-home making the work
life task juggle a greater challenge (Alipour et al., 2020).
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
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Research Objectives and Hypotheses:
The objective of this study is to capture a snapshot of worker perceptions on the unique work-
from-home experience during the pandemic. The study gages satisfaction with the procedures
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taken by the government and employing organization to activate social distancing, as well as
views on a set of advantages and disadvantages of working from home on a longer run. The
following hypotheses are used:
H1: Workers are highly satisfied with their experience in working from home
H2: Respondents find working from home an advantageous option
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H3: Views on working from home will differ significantly by gender
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Methodology and Questionnaire:
The questionnaire contained demographic questions on sex, age group, marital status and
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sector of work. A section was designated for introductory questions on satisfaction with
procedures adopted by the government and employing organization to activate social
distancing and combat the spread of the coronavirus, including the question on satisfaction
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with the work-from-home as an experience. This was followed by 8 statements describing
possible advantages to working from home, and another 8 statements describing possible
disadvantages or challenges associated with working from home.
Likert scale was used for all statements after replacing the neutral option with “not applicable”
for those who did not experience work-from-home or cannot form an opinion from their
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experience. Content validation was used seeking the opinion on the questionnaire design and
content of 2 experts in civil service regulation.
The questionnaire was programmed on Google Forms and distributed using Instagram and
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WhatsApp applications using a snowball sampling approach. The data gathering period
extended over 4 weeks starting from 16th May to 13th June 2020. 219 responses were
collected, data was exported to the Microsoft Excel for analysis.
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Cronbach Alpha coefficient for internal consistency was used to test for reliability. Total
sample scored 0.737. The coefficient is slightly higher for the male sample at 0.781, and
slightly lower for females at 0.717. Being above 0.7, the data show acceptable level of internal
consistency in the total sample, as well as male and female samples independently. This
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encourages us to confidently compare the male and female samples for the third hypothesis.
Data Analysis:
Table 1 below displays the demographic distribution of the sample.
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
Table 1- Percentage Distribution of the Respondents by Demographic Attributes
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Age n= 20-29 30-39 40-49 50 and above
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Sex Female Male
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Non Commercial
Private Non
Sector Public Sector Sector Government
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219 65% 33% 1%
# Statements
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Table 2 – Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Respondents’ Satisfaction with Work from Home Experience &
Relevant Preventive Procedures
Sample
n
Mean
Max STD
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Rating= 4
In general, I am satisfied with the decisions taken by the government on
1 219 3.694064 0.535451
working from home
In general, I am satisfied with the decisions taken by my organization to
2 219 3.470320 0.808660
combat the spread of the coronavirus
Top management in my organization provided work-from-home option
3 219 3.433790 0.877313
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Data in Table 2 display a high level of worker satisfaction, especially with procedures taken by
the government to combat the virus spread (Mean=3.69). We searched for internal
correlations between this group of questions. The highest correlations were found around
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
Satisfaction with working from home and improved productivity
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H1: Workers are highly satisfied with their experience in working from home
199 respondents were allowed to work-from-home. These respondents reported high level
satisfaction with the experience (mean=3.64), as well as reporting perceived improvement in
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their productivity (mean=3.39). Correlation between responses to these two questions was
calculated at r= 0.621, suggesting that satisfaction with work-from-home experience is
predicted by respondent’s self-perception of improved productivity. These results indicate
that the respondents are highly satisfied with their experience in working from home during
Covid-19 Pandemic. Accordingly, H1 is accepted.
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Is working from home an advantageous option?
H2: Respondents find working from home an advantageous option
Table 3 and Table 4 display the mean and standard deviation of worker perceptions on
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advantages disadvantages of working from home.
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Statements on advantages to working from home
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Table 3 – Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Respondents’ Ratings of Advantages of Work from Home
Table 4 – Mean and Standard Deviation Scores of Respondents’ Ratings of Disadvantages of Work from Home
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Mean
# Statements on disadvantages to working from home Sample n Max Rating STD
=4
1 Decreases chances for social mingling with others in the workplace 219 3.013699 0.935926
2 Weakens the link between team members 219 2.607306 1.018697
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
The above data table of advantages shows that the mean for most statements is above 3 with
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less than 1 standard deviation. Using one-tail t-test, calculated-t was 16.935 which was higher
than critical-t at 1.649. Hence H2 is stating that respondents find working from home an
advantageous option is confirmed.
Gender & worker perceptions
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H3: Views on working from home will differ significantly by gender
2-tail test was used for H3, where views could be either higher or lower for male and female
respondents. Calculated-t was -1.04087, and critical-t was 2.000298. Hence, we rejected the
hypothesis that male and female views are significantly different on working from home given
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that calculated-t falls in the confidence interval of -0.200298<-1.04087<0.2.000298.
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0.06
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
Figure 3- Male Responses – Normally Distributed
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0.06
0.04
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0.02
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142
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Figure 4- Female Responses – Normally Distributed
0.08
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0.04
0.02
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Discussion and Conclusion:
This study aimed to provide a timely snapshot of perceptions on work-from-home experience
during Covid 19 Pandemic. The number of respondents that reported working from home is
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199. Of these respondents 95% are satisfied with the experience- 71% being strongly satisfied.
More interestingly, 86% noticed an improvement in their productivity- 56% reporting strong
agreement. The respondents’ comments in the free area provided in the questionnaire
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explained that working from home equipped them with a quiet environment where they are
shielded from continuous distractions by colleagues, especially in a shared office space.
Respondents explained that they enjoyed the freedom to schedule their time to suit their
performance patterns rather than tailor their working day on the rhythm of the surrounding
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environment.
Open area workstations are very common in Bahrain in both government and private
organizations. Organizations resort to this design to save costs associated with providing
private offices, as well as stimulate communications among employees. This situation,
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however, started to add more strain on employees to stay focused on their individual tasks in
the short run. In the long run, it becomes difficult to stay different; participating in daily social
activities such as having morning tea and lunch breaks with colleagues becomes inevitable to
maintain amiable work relations. These continuous socializations distract the individual
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thought process, and workflow for workers. In addition, this adds a difficulty to stay out of
gossip cultures and maintain high spirit in difficult times.
This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
More research is needed to explore the dynamics of the relationship between work-from-
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home and productivity. Organizations containing jobs with measurable results in term of
quantity and quality of output are encouraged to explore the numbers before and after
applying work-from-home during the pandemic. Whether numbers show improved or
deteriorated productivity, analyses must explore the dynamics of the relationship and account
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for other variables moderating it. Discussions can include employees and their managers.
H2 stating that respondents find working from home an advantageous option was accepted
given a significantly higher rating for 8 statements of advantages in comparison to moderately
low rating on 8 statements of disadvantages. The advantages included work-from-home being
a flexible option that can be adopted temporarily for emergencies and crises (98%), and in
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response to job or employee emerging circumstances (94%), as well as permanently for jobs
with a permitting nature (86%).
Hence, organizations are encouraged to consider revising their human resource policies to
include the work-from-home option. The option can be used in situations when a worker can
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fully perform their work duties yet cannot commute to work. This situation can be borne by
medical conditions impeding a worker’s mobility, or necessitating staying at home to take care
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of a newborn, elderly, sick or disabled family member.
Interestingly, a striking 94% of the respondents agreed that work-from-home aids in
balancing work and life responsibilities, which dismisses past literature concerns on work-life
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balance. Especially that during the pandemic home workers had to endure having all family
members detained at home with them, along with home schooling chores for parents. This
discordance with previous concerns on work life balance suggests that respondents’
experienced work-life integration during the pandemic. It can be explained by respondents
agreeing that working from home allows using the wasted time in traffic (96%), and decreases
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the fatigue associated with spending long hours away from home (89%). In that sense,
workers can relocate wasted time and energy and regain focus on their responsibilities
towards themselves, family, and work. Notwithstanding that the Bahraini sample in this
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disadvantage side, 73% of the respondents agreed that working from home decreases chances
for social mingling with their worker, as well as challenge the ties between members of the
same team (55%).
In general, communication among employees can be challenged by working from home
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(34%), and accordingly it can land a hurdle on holding effective meetings (36%). The internet
being the host for the vast majority of communications necessitates installing high-speed
connection at home (96%), which add extra tasks and costs on the worker. Additionally, there
are a number of files and systems that can only be available in the workplace network (46%)
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making them harder to reach and navigate from home (41%). Yet, despite all of these
disadvantages, only 26% agreed that working from home can impede the speed of their work.
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890
Disadvantages of obstructed communication and ineffective meetings can be avoided in the
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future by arranging for home workers to commute to work once or twice a week for following
up on work and attending periodical and important meetings. Simultaneously, more training
and feedback can be used to increase the efficiency of virtual meetings.
To conclude, more research is needed on working from home during and after the pandemic.
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Different data gathering methods are suggested such as interviews and focus groups with
employees, line managers, human resource professionals and top managers. Our results
confirm that working from home provides a flexible option for emergencies on personal and
organizational levels. Accordingly, organizations in Bahrain are invited to consider setting up
permanent policies and systems for working from home as applicable to their organizations
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and employees.
Originality & Limitations:
This study provides empirical evidence of employee perception on working from home in the
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middle of Covid-19 Pandemic. Employees reported noticing improvement in their
productivity and implied reaching a status of work-life integration, despite the negative
feelings associated witnessing a pandemic.
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The sample is small in comparison with the number individuals working from home, and
presents only one side of the employment relationship- employees. Perceptions being
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surveyed during the pandemic can also imply that views might be inflated by fear for the life
and safety for oneself and loved ones being jeopardized by commuting to work and mingling
with others.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the following experts in civil service management for
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- Mrs. Amal Albinali- Chief of Strategic Planning & Projects Department (Public
sector)
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3643890