Experiencing telework in time of COVID-19: A qualitative study

Kristina Rakinić, Urška Filipič, Eva Brvar, Iris Cilenšek, Maja Vovko 

 Full article (pdf)  |   Written in Slovene  |  Published: 9. December 2020 |  Reads: 556

Abstract

Many companies and their employees had to start working from home as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak. Work from home involves working away from a central office for part of or full working time. Many professions, for which work from home was not a part of their working routine in the past, had to adapt quickly to changes and this new way of working. We conducted a qualitative study with the purpose to examine main themes present in individuals‘ experiences with working from home in this specific situation. We used thematic analysis approach to describe our data. Our sample included 19 participants, 13 of which had previous experiences working from home. The most represented themes were: communication, time, home as a working space, transition support, work-to-family conflict and impact of the situation (COVID-19). A majority of participants reported that the extent and complexity of work remained unchanged in comparison to the time before they started working from home. Attitudes towards working from home of most participants remained unchanged. Our study, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of working from home, offers insight into planning better work adjustments for employees in the future, when telework, also as a result of this specific experience, will become more common.

Keywords

COVID-19, telework, technology, thematic network

Cite

Rakinić, K., Filipič, U., Brvar, E., Cilenšek, I. in Vovko, M. (2020). Doživljanje dela od doma v času COVID-19: kvalitativna študija [Experiencing telework in time of COVID-19: A qualitative study]. Eksperimentator, 4, 67–75.