PSY FPX 5201 Assessment 5 The Effect of Remote Work on Isolation, Quit Rate, and Job Satisfaction

Student Name

Capella University

PSY FPX 5201 Integrative Project for Master’s Degree in Psychology

Prof. Name

Date

The Effect of Remote Work on Isolation, Quit Rate, and Job Satisfaction

The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies to manage their workforce remotely to protect their employee’s health and safety while enabling work to continue during the lockdown. Many employees continue to fully participate in remote or hybrid work, with some days in an office setting (Türkeș et al., 2022). Remote work may lead to isolation, increased quit rate, and reduced job satisfaction resulting from increased stress (Morán et al., 2023).

As many organizations continue to work from home, it requires study outcomes to identify the impact of employees’ physical, environmental, and psychosocial factors on the individual’s mental health. This systematic review will identify the impact of working from home on organizational, environmental, psychosocial, and physical factors on individuals’ mental and physical health. Electronic searches using the library database from Capella University for peer-reviewed research published within the last 5 years using keywords: work-from-home, telework, remote work, employee mental health, employee stress, and employee quit rate.

Theoretical Orientation for the Research Concept

The theoretical framework that supports my research topic is the job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Nasharudin et al., 2020). Nasharudin et al. (2020) explained that the JD-R model states that stress and burnout are common when job demands are high and job positives are low. Equally good job positives can balance the effects of extreme job difficulties and boost motivation and engagement (Nasharudin et al., 2020). This theory can be applied to industrial organizational psychology to improve employee satisfaction and mental health by identifying problems within groups, such as those working from home, allowing leadership to develop solutions to improve the working environment (Baker et al., 2017).

It includes positive and negative motivational processes, thus empowering decision-makers to adapt existing strategies to maintain employee well-being and performance while working from home. Other theories could also be used to examine the effects of working from home on individuals, including the social cognitive theory (Locke, 1987), the Campbell theory of job performance (Koopmans et al., 2011), and the human relations theory (Omodan et al., 2020).

Review of the Literature

Over the past couple of years, there has been a shift in the location where employees conduct their work (Türkes et al., 2022). Short (2022) found that technology has expanded the available working locations for many workers, especially during and after the global pandemic (COVID-19). New ways of working provide employees and employers with many positives, such as flexibility in location and schedules; however, with the rapid adjustments and large scale of employees moving to work from home during the pandemic, it is essential to understand how the transitions affect the well-being of staff.

Before the pandemic, only 3.6% of U.S. workers worked from home, and only 5.4% of European workers reported that they teleworked full-time, with a sharp increase to 70% of workers in the U.S. during the pandemic (Beckel, 2022). For this study, work-from-home, telework, remote work, and similar terms used in various research are considered the same.

PSY FPX 5201 Assessment 5 The Effect of Remote Work on Isolation, Quit Rate, and Job Satisfaction

This review aims to identify and recapitulate research identifying the association between working from home and workers’ isolation level, quit rate, and satisfaction through an investigative review of mental health-related coping methods and satisfaction with working from home, occupational health psychology, and organizational culture and leadership styles. Prior research on working from home primarily focused on work-related outcomes, such as employee performance effects of reading emails after working hours (Belkin et al., 2020). Due to the sudden rise in working from home, practitioners and employers must understand how a person’s physical and psychological well-being may be affected by working from home.

Synthesis of the Research Findings

Over the past 3 years, telework or working from home has grown rapidly and suddenly due to the pandemic (COVID-19). With the outbreak of COVID-19, companies had to change how they operate suddenly (Contreras et al., 2020). The move to working from home was forthcoming; however, the COVID-19 pandemic made the transition necessary to be completed within a few days to weeks rather than years. This hasty change affected how organizations function and the connection between employers and employees (Contreras et al., 2020).

This systematic review appraises how teleworking or working from home affects the well-being of employees. Crawford et al. (2022) note that employees working from home who are also responsible for assisting their children with school work exhibited declining well-being. Research on teleworking and predicting employee health behaviors has only recently been conducted (Beckel, 2022). There are wide inconsistencies between study results, with some finding that telework leads to relationship conflicts and other studies finding significant or insignificant conflicts within the same relationships (Crawford et al., 2022).

The idea that employees are always available due to the increased flexibility and technological advances must be managed by employees and organizations to reduce potential harm to employee’s well-being, especially while working from home (Belkin, 2020). Reducing negative impacts on workers’ well-being is essential to increasing satisfaction levels while reducing quit rates and isolation (Parent et al., 2023).

Research indicates that teleworking improves job performance and satisfaction, reduces stress, and lowers the quit rate (Contreras et al., 2020). Not all research has found this outcome equal across all teleworking situations. Contreras et al. (2020) found that positive outcomes related to teleworking are usually found within organizations that promote managerial, peer, and technical support to their employees. Many studies identified the physical and social changes workers experience when moving from working in the office to teleworking (Beckel et al., 2022; Contreras et al., 2020; Lamarche et al., 2023). This study will investigate the aspects of working from home that reduce job satisfaction and increase the workers’ quit rate and isolation.

Critique of the Literature

The majority of the research on working from home examines work-related outcomes rather than employee well-being (Belkin, 2020). While telework has increased job satisfaction, more research is needed to understand the extent of the effect of teleworking on employee satisfaction and the quit rate (Contreras et al., 2020). The negative consequences of working from home may be due to inadequate social and managerial support (Contreras et al., 2020). Remote work, combined with high job demands, can lead to burnout and negatively impact job performance (Contreras et al., 2020).

Recommendations for Future Research

Future research should address the limitations of prior studies by including employee well-being as a primary outcome rather than a secondary one (Crawford et al., 2022). Furthermore, research should focus on the different types of telework to identify the optimal setup for maximizing employee satisfaction and reducing the quit rate (Contreras et al., 2020). Organizations must establish practices and policies that support employee well-being and prevent negative outcomes associated with telework (Contreras et al., 2020).

Conclusion

The sudden shift to telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of understanding its impact on employee well-being. While telework can improve job satisfaction and reduce the quit rate,

it can also lead to isolation and increased stress, particularly when combined with high job demands and inadequate support from managers and peers. Future research should prioritize employee well-being as a primary outcome and investigate the optimal telework setup for maximizing benefits and minimizing negative consequences.

References:

Andrade, L. B., Alfes, K., & Wäsche, H. (2023). The impact of teleworking on well-being outcomes: Insights from theory and practice. European Management Journal, 41(1), 25-37.

Beckel, K., Schwarze, J., & Krueger, A. (2022). The medium-term effects of teleworking on individual well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology, 92, 102481.

Belkin, L. Y., & McCormack, A. (2020). Online beyond nine to five: The relationship between perceptions of off-hours availability and employee outcomes. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 25(1), 86-101.

Contreras, F., Baykal, E., & Birk, L. (2020). Home office or office home? The role of loneliness in job crafting in telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 125, 103463.

Crawford, E. R., LePine, J. A., & Rich, B. L. (2022). Linking job characteristics to employee well-being: The role of telework. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 1639-1655.

Lamarche, C., Jones, S. B., Bergeron, J., & Lavoie-Tremblay, M. (2023). Work and health-related predictors of retirement timing and satisfaction among Canadian nurses. Journal of Nursing Management, 31(3), 773-783.

Morán, C., Castro, B., & Uriarte, A. (2023). The role of e-leadership and social support in reducing teleworker stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Business Research, 174, 54-63.

Nasharudin, M. N., Shariff, M. N. M., Rashid, N. M., & Abdul Hamid, K. B. (2020). Job demand-resource (JD-R) model: A conceptual framework towards job satisfaction among academic librarians. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 25(3), 115-128.

Omodan, T. O., Adeyemi, B. A., & Adeleke, T. S. (2020). Social climate, work adjustment, and psychological well-being of primary health care workers in a Nigerian setting. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 35(1), 202-217.

Parent-Lamarche, A., Marchand, A., Biron, C., & Desmarais, J. (2023). Work interruptions and recovery: A daily diary study. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 32(1), 15-29.

Short, M. E. (2022). Work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining organizational culture as a moderator of outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 128, 103674.