The Impact of Work from Home on Work Engagement.

Abstract

Companies attempted to adjust a new work model called “Work from Home (WFH)” as part of their efforts to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus. Accordingly, employees can set up their workspace at home and manage their job tasks remotely. Today, it has become a popular contemporary work practice among the Sri Lankan, is now becoming a mandatory flexible method in some institutions. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of WFH practice on Work Engagement based on the employees in the selected well-known institution representing the Sri Lankan context. The quantitative research approach was applied and data collection is done using surveys, observations, existing journal articles. And also, by targeting specific company and a specific population, the cross-sectional design was used. At that way generated statistical data to evaluate results and discussion. As a result of literature findings three major components of Autonomy, Convenience and Psychosocial Safety were selected to represent the independent variables and Vigor, Dedication and Absorption were the dimensions of the Work Engagement. Data were collected through a self-administered online survey using a random sample of 200 executive level employees who work remotely from locations more that 100 kilometers away from their office. The data was analyzed using different statistical techniques using the SPSS 25 version. Four hypotheses were tested and results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between two major variables. The R-square value indicated that 21.8% of the Work Engagement is explained by the selected dimensions of WFH practice. This study concludes that this practice is still not too familiar to this country’s context, and it shows a lower level of impact on Work Engagement in the Sri Lankan work environment. Hence, organizations must improve further techno-oriented infrastructure facilities and enhance awareness of employees how can they improve Work Engagement using those modern techniques in the country.