Reference no: EM132877665
BSMH 3053 EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT THINK AND SOLVE 1 REMOTE WORKING AND PRODUCTIVITY
Although working from home practice has become more common in many countries due to various benefits, organizations still have reluctancy to adopt this form of working because of the drawbacks. Ford and Butts (1991:21) claim that drawbacks of working from home practice are based on perceived or actual loss of control of the organization. Organizations fear that employees may give priority to personal errands over work or may "farm out the work to somebody else" decreasing the control of the organisation even further. This may lead to data security problems, which Peters et al. (2004:471) claim to the major drawback, ranking first among many other drawbacks according to their study. Ford and Butts (1991:21) claim that security risks are caused mainly by "allowing outside computer terminal connections and external access to company databases" when the employees are allowed to work from home. They indicate that there is a risk of unauthorized access to the system and privileged company data which can be used by their competitors. Peters et al. (2004:471) state that productivity and work quality problems are ranked second among the drawbacks of working from home for organisations according to their study. Greer et al. (2014:98) mention distractions in the home environment of the employees, which was reported as a drawback by supervisors. They also reported "lack of adequate work-related resources including technological equipment and files stored at the main worksite that are required to perform work-related tasks while teleworking" (Greer et al. 2014:98). Another reported drawback by supervisors was "managing and monitoring teleworker performance" (Greer et al. 2014:98). One of the reasons creating this problem is the "limited accessibility of employees" by the organisation (Lupu 2017:696). Even when the employees are accessed by their colleagues and supervisors, "lack of face-toface communication and the benefits associated with face-to-face communication" creates a drawback for the employees (Greer et al. 2014:98). Efficient communication is especially important for working from home practices as the team members are interdependent on each other and it is a challenge for the supervisors to coordinate them, as each of them are physically in different places (Greer et al. 2014:98). Peters et al. (2004:471) mention a survey conducted with 66 managers who were against working from home as they think the practice increases the burden of the managers with additional responsibilities and decreases the interaction between employer and employee. As mentioned above, being away from the colleagues and the office may lead to "lack of identity with the company's culture and the absence of team spirit", which has a negative impact on the productivity (Ford and Butts 1991:22).
Based on the above statement, please answer the following questions:
1. In your opinion, do you think that remote work will impact badly employees' productivity? Why?
2. Explain TWO (2) factors influencing productivity positively for the employees working from home?
3. Explain TWO (2) factors influencing productivity negatively for the employees working from home?
4. Based on the issues discussed above, suggest TWO (2) best practices for the organization.