WORKING from home has a positive impact on employee performance if their work is managed effectively, according to a recently published Bahrain-based study.
The research titled ‘Impact and Analysing Employees’ Performance on Modern Working Approach and Work from Home’ was conducted by Gulf University assistant professor Dr Muskan Nagi in collaboration with India-based Krupanidhi Degree College assistant professor Dr Shivani Nigam.
“This study aims to examine employee performance, which is considered the soul of an organisation, impacting both profitability and the individual’s appraisal,” researchers wrote in the report. “It was conducted in Bahrain amongst 297 employees of Batelco.”
The purpose was to determine whether a modern work approach, with the option to work from home, had an impact on performance, and evaluate whether flexibility affected employee output.
The 297 employees who participated in the study were sent a questionnaire, which asked about their performance when working from home, demographic information, flexibility around working remotely and overall impressions of the modern work approach.
Of the respondents, 42 per cent had less than five years of experience, 14pc had five to 10 years under their belt, 29pc had worked in the field for 11-20 years and 15pc had more than 20 years of experience. Male respondents made up 83pc of the surveyed group.
The study found “a positive relationship between the modern work approach and employee performance” by measuring the responses of the participants.
“This agrees with previous studies, where it was found that the modern work approach is a method that depends mainly on managing resources, both human and material, directing and organising them according to dynamic structures and thus achieving the desired goals,” researchers added.
The modern approach is a set of emerging trends at workplaces, including flexible work timings, remote work and telecommuting.
The study found that research and development-related processes are positively impacted during periods of remote work. It also found that as long as employees are not working longer hours, their productivity is likely to improve when telecommuting.
“The research recommends the need to provide an encouraging work environment for remote workers in their places of presence while helping the organisation attract and increase remote workers,” researchers noted.
“Qualifying and training employees to work remotely requires a certain type of management that is more involved than the traditional administrative methods.”
It also suggested measuring productivity using “scientific methods” but did not go into detail about what kinds of tools should be used.
Software solutions that track time and computer usage have emerged in recent years, which allow enterprises to monitor the productivity of their employees. These include Time Doctor, DeskTime and Toggl Track.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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