Changing work culture (WFH) in IT Industry and its impact on Employee Productivity

in view of COVID-19

Author1
Designation
Dept of ……….
University
Phone no:…………….

Author2
Designation
Dept of ……….
University
Phone no:…………….

Abstract: Everything changed with the COVID-19 Epidemic. The pandemic enabled companies
and workers to reset the concept of home work (WFH) from home. The confidence deficit
between members and corporations was the largest hurdle to the WFH operating model. The
WFH model typically has all the features of operating admirably enough this time to reassure
administrators that it happens to be the typical working model. Innovation, which drills into
long-term improvements, employee professionalism and competitiveness, has been the key
reason behind this successful move. Recent studies on WFH reported that most Indian IT
employees are not capable of WFH, so the current article aims to find the effect of WFH's pros
and cons on the employees' self-rated productivity with this context, and the impact of
demographics on productivity is also examined. The thesis is exploratory in nature, choosing 100
respondents for the sample on a random basis. The questionnaire is drawn up using the
agreement scale and consists of 4 sections. With the assistance of Cronbach Alpha, which is
0.867 and a reasonable reliability test, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire is checked.
The programme used for data processing is SPSS version 25 and AMOS version 22, and the first
hypothesis is evaluated using ANOVA and independent t-test and the second hypothesis is tested
using structural equation modelling. The results show that the drawbacks of WFH have an effect
on competitiveness. Nevertheless the demographic variables do not influence the employees'
WFH productivity except for the levels of jobs. Additional analysis on a wider sample size and
case studies relating to a particular organisation is available.

Keywords: Work From Home (WFH) , Productivity of employees , IT employees, Covid-19

1. Introduction
 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

The novel corona virus (COVID-19) flare-up and the resulting work-from-home targets and
lockdowns have triggered crucial financial disruptions across the globe. When a few are asked to
self-isolate a large amount of workers through multiple segments, an understanding of the impact
of this step and relief methodologies becomes basic. The bits of insight from prior studies on the
effects of work from home proposals do not penetrate the present environment since these
courses of action were often limited to a select group of staff and groups and were often self-
choosing.

Work from home has been a far-reaching marvel since innovation has allowed people to
remotely associate their PCs and work. The overwhelming majority of worldwide organisations,
profoundly in the USA, urged telecommute to allow their members to change their work life.
Nevertheless on particular times and a limited arrangement of representatives, telecommute was
restricted to representatives employed in the innovation industry.

Work from home remained common mainly in the US and Europe as the growth of members and
managers was usually high. However, not many have consistently exploited telecommute (WFH)
adaptability, placing an enquiry on the wide-scale reception of this instruction. In expressing
their reservations to the act of operating from home, several top officials have been outspoken. It
was considered something of an asset to the worker at the expense of the association's
productivity misfortune. WFH was explicitly allowed before COVID, relying largely on the need
for delegates and to keep them locked in.

Everything changed with the COVID flare-up. The pandemic allowed corporations and officials
to reset the concept of working from home. The confidence deficit between members and
corporations was the largest hurdle to the WFH operating model. COVID guaranteed long
supported work for everyone from home to work. This time, the WFH model usually has all the
tasks to function admirably enough to reassure executives that it seems to be the typical
operating model. Innovation, which is digging in for long-term improvements, has been the key
purpose behind this productive step.

Figure: 1 – Recent research on WFH in IT sector Across India

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

Source: SCIKEY Research

A study from (SCIKEY, MARCH, 2020) relies on the experiences of respondents from
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana
and West Bengal, primarily IT experts between the ages of 22 to 47. The SCIKEY Analysis
Report was derived from the Mind Match Algorithm of SCIKEY. This calculation will outline
the mindset of the proficient that relies on a number of inquiries that understand the propensities
of the individual and the environment upsetting variables that trigger interruptions and tension,
passionate rest, personality outlets, priorities and degrees of conviction in the life of a specialist.

With this context, the pros and cons of working from home and its effect on productivity among
employees in the IT sector need to be examined.

2. Review of Literature

1. According to Harvard experts, Amabile and Kramer, 2013, telecommute delivery has
altered the members' professional life, allowing staff to parallelize and distinguish their
regular activities from their corporate jobs. The analysis undertaken at New York Bank
reveals that telecommute has improved productivity, spared time, achieved its targets on
budget, was more creative than remote employees, but was still satisfied with their
operation. Such change has also motivated them to give their own lives more chances.
2. According to the research, just 7 percent of the point of view of members that they
operate more profitably in corporate rooms as compared to house, Carter, 2016.
However, though 65 percent of labourers claim that working from home will be more
efficient than working in a traditional working climate. The three disadvantages faced by
remote employees as they telecommute over jobs, chronic disengagement and

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

satisfactory resources to chip away from this downside of home work can affect the
polished approach of the corporate world's leaders.
3. Richardson and Writer, 2017 proposed that WFH's growth of current creativity has
improved the reputation of for example increasing the use of web for web conferencing,
mobile call, fax, which has affected the job increasingly easier as shown by Richardson
WFH in a positive as well as negative way. A few characteristics of positive hand,
members will begin their work as seen by their ease, this announcement would also allow
them the right to delay the work and not present the work on time with negative impact
accommodation. This announcement also has a bright aspect as the worker will work
unreservedly and agreeably on different days, the clothes and working habits would be
misinformed.
4. Go, 2016 reported that the paper reflects mainly on the grim side of WFH and the great
disappointments in the wake of beginning work from home, the social contrasts that
members look at as they manage online classes. WFH establishes a correspondence void
in the group between the unrivalled and the subordinates and other co-representatives to
refer to.
5. McCain, 2013, spoke about telecommuting stars like wearing most loved clothing,
reducing workplace cum proficient clothes expenditures, fewer travel time, and mothers'
benefits; she also featured the telecommuting drawbacks. Disengagements, interruptions,
for instance, separate from the organization, leaving employee and specialist lives
separated. What I liked about the article was that the point was "Cost of setting up a
home office" with cost, which means money-related spending as well as non-financial
expenditure, although it failed to determine which directly.
6. The opinion of corporations was shared in this article by MSG.E. Many HR experts claim
that WFH imposes additional costs on the associations in terms of home availability and
other infrastructural points of view, which the associations continue to pay for the
employees. In addition, several supervisors say that WFH is a thump on effect where
various members need to go with the same trend and this makes organizations an
unpleasant situation.' It was also said that it is highly impossible to keep an eye on the
working hours of the workers while they are WFH and, consequently, it is highly unlikely
to realise if the worker is by and wide extra profitable or merely postponed work to be
completed until they return to the work environment.
7. This article brought new pieces of insight, such as the benefits of conditioning by moving
cars off the highway, Vanderkam, 2013. It also showed that one meta-investigation of 46
examinations found that working from home was correlated with more task satisfaction,
less desire to leave an organization, and had no effect on the nature of links to the
working world at unobtrusive levels. In another investigation, 24,436 (IBM, -0.53
percent) members in 75 countries were dissected by BYU experts to discern where 25
percent of representatives revealed work-family conflicts. Before a noteworthy piece
endured work-life tension, individuals with the capacity to WFH and schedule their own

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

hours would work 57 hours of the week. The break point occurred at 38 hours for
individuals who would be in the office at set hours.

2.1 Research gap

There are numerous reports based on WFH's pros and cons and their effect on employees'
morale, wellness and professionalism. But bearing in mind the current Pandemic scenario, most
IT employees are compelled to join WFH and when they are impacted by a pandemic situation
and how they deal with WFH stresses, there is a need to find the effect on the competitiveness of
IT employees.

2.2 Conceptual framework

Figure 2: Conceptual Framework for the current study

Source: Author Created

The above conceptual structure shows in a diagram the whole study , the advantages and
disadvantages of WFH during the COVID-19 may vary from a situation that is not impacted by
the pandemic, thereby testing the effect of pros and cons on employee efficiency. The
investigator also aims to investigate the possibilities of demographic variables such as age,
gender, marital status, qualification, expertise and work levels that influence competitiveness
during a pandemic scenario.

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

3. Objectives

The Primary objective of the study is to analyze the impact of changed work culture of work
from home on the productivity of the IT Employees.

 To study the influence of demographic variables on the Employee productivity through

WFH
 To analyze the impact of Pros and cons of WFH on the Employee productivity

4. Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: Gender, Age, Marital Status, Qualification, Experience and Job levels influence
the Employee productivity through WFH

Hypothesis 2: Pros and Cons of WFH impact the Employee Productivity

5. Research Methodology

The current study is exploratory in nature, the researcher aims to collect primary data through
questionnaire method. The questionnaire is drafted using the likert scale of agreement and
consists of 4 parts –

Part Description Source

PART A Demographic profile
PART B Advantages of WFH Timbal, A. and Mustabsat, A. (2016)
PART C Disadvantages of WFH Grant, C.A., Wallace, L.M. and Spurgeon, P.C.
(2013)
PART D Productivity of employees Nakrošiene, Audrone & Buciuniene, Ilona &
through WFH Goštautaitė, Bernadeta. (2019)

It was not possible to please the respondents due to the COVID-19 social distance requirements
and the questionnaire was distributed using Google forms. There are approximately 2.5 million
IT workers in Bangalore City (Economy of Bangalore,2020), 100 respondents are randomly
selected as the survey due to time constraint and pandemic condition, and 92 properly completed
responses have been collected. With the assistance of Cronbach Alpha, which is 0.867 and a
reasonable reliability test, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire is checked.

The programme used for data processing is SPSS version 25 and AMOS version 22, and the first
hypothesis is evaluated using ANOVA and independent t-test and the second hypothesis is tested
using structural equation modelling. At p=0.05, the degree of significance is considered for all
statistical analyses. The drawback of the analysis is that there is a constraint on the limited
sample size and geographical limits. Employee efficiency is self-rated and thus biased.

6. Findings and suggestions

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

6.1 Demographic profile of the respondents

Chart 1: Demographic Profile of the respondents

Demographic Profile of the respondents

90 78.3
57.6 58.7 64.1
60 42.4 41.3 37.0 41.3
21.7 29.3 37.0 21.7
30 18.5 15.2 10.9 18.5
6.6
0
r e e e 5 5 5 s e d e 3 6 9 9 n a n n n l s s
n de al mal Ag 8-2 6-3 e 3 tatu ngl rrie enc 0- 3- 6- an tio om tio tio tio eve ger tive
e M e 1 2 v s i
S M e a ri t h c a p l a a a L a u
G F o l_ e if Di adu adu adu b_ an ec
Ab rita xp or ual r r r Jo - M Ex
a k_
E M Q e r G st G st g 1 -
M o r n d Po P o
v el l 2
W U e l e ev e
ov b l
Ab Jo ob
J

Source: Author Created

In graph 1, the demographic profile of the respondents is clearly clarified. The majority of study
respondents are male, IT workers are primarily under 35 years of age, and 58.7% are married.
The degree of experience revealed that more than 705 workers had fewer than 9 years of
experience and that the rest had finished their graduation. From the demographic profile, it is
obvious that the respondents are young and diverse with strong experience and levels of
education that fit the study's needs.

6.2 Descriptive statistics

The descriptive statistics demonstrate that the effects of WFH are strongly accepted during the
pandemic scenario, as the overall mean score is 4.56 with the least variability in responses.
Transmission protection COVID-19 has the highest mean score of 4.77, suggesting that it was
firmly accepted by the majority of respondents. An overall mean score of 4.12 with a standard
deviation of 0.82 is obtained when the drawbacks of WFH due to pandemic are addressed,
showing the agreement spectrum of responses from IT workers in relation to disadvantages
presented by a pandemic circumstance. In the case of productivity appraisal, the self-rated scale
is used and the workers' average self-rated productivity during a pandemic and WFH condition is
3.93 suggesting neutrality to the set of responses accepted. The two comments suggesting that
integrity and rewards are lost due to WFH[My professionalism has decreased due to home work
(4.63) and my benefits and compensation have decreased due to home work (4.64)] have high
mean scores indicating good IT workers consensus. (The Appendix)

6.3 ANOVA and Independent T test Results

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

For all variables of more than 2 categories, one direction Study of Variance is used to verify the
first theory of the effect of demographic variables on productivity. For all variables which have
either 2 or two classes, the independent T test is used. At less than p=0.05, the degree of
importance is acknowledged.

Table: 1 ANOVA and Independent T test –Significance levels

Influence of demographic variables on Productivity

Independent T test - Independent ANOVA – Independent
variables Variables
Dependent Marital Experien Qualificati
variables Gender Status Job level Age ce on
WHF_Impact_Prod 0.509 0.478 0.72 0.805 0.041
_1 0.001 0
WHF_Impact_Prod 0.739 0.326 0.13 0.010 0.061
_2 0.006 9
WHF_Impact_Prod 0.457 0.400 0.54 0.172 0.125
_3 0.013 4
WHF_Impact_Prod 0.722 0.886 0.90 0.590 0.093
_4 0.045 3
WHF_Impact_Prod 0.652 0.571 0.54 0.610 0.684
_5 0.056 1
WHF_Impact_Prod 0.263 0.201 0.64 0.569 0.277
_6 0.007 4

Significance values are negligible for all predicted Work Level factors, i.e. greater than the
defined P value of 0.05. This finding reveals that age, ethnicity, marital status, expertise and
education are not influenced by the effectiveness of IT workers in the WFH during the pandemic.
Employees with Work Level 1-managers had better productivity in the case of Job Level 2-
managers relative to Job Level 2. A new article (The Hindu, March 2020) also has similar
findings where managers have higher productivity while they have less need for human
proximity in the essence of their jobs. The significance value for productivity objects is below
0.05, suggesting that managers have higher productivity relative to managers. Accepted - Null
Hypothesis.

6.4 Structural Equation Modeling

A dynamic equation model is created to assess the second theory of WFH's Pros and Cons effect
on Employee Efficiency and the findings reveal that there is a model fit with a chi sqr value of

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

475.417 with 40 NPar values. The Goodness of fit index stood at 0.778 and the findings of the
SEM can be seen to be accurate.

Table 2 : Structural Relationship between variables

Standardis
Unstandardis ed La
      ed Estimate Estimate S.E. C.R. P bel
Advantages
Productivit of WFH
y due to <-- during -0.207
WFH - Pandemic -0.456 0.271 -1.684 0.092  
Disadvantage
Productivit s of WFH
y due to <-- during 0.819
WFH - Pandemic 1.024 0.276 3.706 ***  

The accompanying diagram illustrates the structural relationship between competitiveness and
the pros and cons. The study's pros/advantages are negligible to productivity as the importance
values are smaller than 0.05, but the drawbacks have a powerful effect on productivity as the
beta co-efficient is 0.82, suggesting that productivity is caused by 82 percent improvement due to
WFH's disadvantages. Rejected - the null hypothesis.

Figure 2: Structural Equation Modelling

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

Source: Author created- AMOS software

7. Conclusions

Some market leaders are thinking of a permanent aspect of WFH and have started to examine its
advantages and challenges. Truth be told, some of the huge organizations said they would switch
from the new formula of 100/100 to 25/25. They indicated that at an arbitrary time, 25 percent of
staff will go to the office and 25 percent of their resources will be spent in the workplace by
large delegates. WFH's primary measure is to reliably assess the same standards of performance
by members in terms of consistency and profitability. The study indicates that there is an effect
on competitiveness of the drawbacks and management should take corrective action to transform
WFH's risks into opportunities for increasing professionalism and career growth. Nevertheless
the demographic variables do not influence the employees' WFH productivity except for the
levels of jobs. As their productivity is higher than Work Level -2 Workers, the employees at Job
Level 1 should also be allowed to WFH. The current research is based on a specific sample
which will serve as a reference in different other geographical locations to larger studies. Due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, case studies relating to a particular organization will also help to
explain the cultural change of the WFH in 2020.

REFERENCES

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

 Amabile, T., & Kramer, S. (2013, July 24). Working from home: A work in progress.
Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2013/07/working-from-home-a-work-in-pr
 Carter, C. (2016, October 4). 3 Things No One Tells You About Working From Home.
Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecarter/2016/10/04/3-things-
no-one-tells-you-about-working-from-home/
home/&refURL=https://www.google.co.in/&referrer=https://www.google.co.in/
 Go, R. (2016, May 9). The 7 deadly disadvantages of working from home. Retrieved
from Hubstaff, http://blog.hubstaff.com/disadvantages-of-working-from-home/
 Grant, C.A., Wallace, L.M. and Spurgeon, P.C. (2013). An Exploration of the
Psychological
Factors Affecting Remote e‐ worker's Job Effectiveness, Well‐ being and Work‐ life
Balance,
Employee Relations, 35(5), pp.527-546, https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-08-2012-0059
 McCain, D. hall. (2013, November 12). Pros and cons of working from home. Retrieved
from Work Life Balance, http://www.imom.com/pros-and-cons-of-working-from-
home/#.WIZU8fl97IU
 MSG, E. The advantages and disadvantages of working from home and organizational
policies. Retrieved February 7, 2017, from MSG MANAGEMENT STUDY GUIDE,
http://www.managementstudyguide.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-working-
from-home.htm#
 Nakrošiene, Audrone & Buciuniene, Ilona & Goštautaitė, Bernadeta. (2019). Working
from home: characteristics and outcomes of telework. International Journal of Manpower.
10.1108/IJM-07-2017-0172.
 Ricci, M. (2014, March 21). 12 Pros (& Cons) of Working From Home. Retrieved from
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140331142817-17950-12-pros-cons-of-working-from-
home
 Richardson, B., & Writer, M. C. (2017). The pros and cons of working from home.
Retrieved from https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/pros-cons-of-working-
from-home
 Rogers, (2013, November 27). Pros and cons of allowing employees to work from home.
Retrieved from http://www.businessreviewcanada.ca/leadership/11/Pros-and-cons-of-
allowing-employees-to-work-from-home
 Timbal, A. and Mustabsat, A. (2016). Flexibility or Ethical Dilemma: An Overview of
the Work
from Home Policies in Modern Organizations around the World, Human Resource
Management
International Digest, 24(7)
 Vanderkam, L. (2013, July 22). Home vs. Office: Where should you work? Retrieved
from http://fortune.com/2013/07/22/home-vs-office-where-should-you-work/

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 Work from home during COVID-19 – a study across IT sector Employees in Bangalore City 2020

WEB REFERENCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangalore

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/work-from-home-in-the-time-of-covid-
19/article31207008.ece

https://resources.scikey.ai/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Work-From-Home-Champions.pd

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APPENDIX

Table: Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive Statistics
N Minimu Maximu Mean Std. Skewness Kurtosis
m m Deviatio
n
Statisti Statistic Statistic Statisti Statistic Statisti Std. Statisti Std.
c c c Erro c Erro
r r
Advantages of WFH                
1 Flexible working WFH_Adv_1 92 2 5 4.64 0.622 -2.101 0.25 5.537 0.49
hours 1 8
2 Spending time with WFH_Adv_2 92 3 5 4.66 0.579 -1.535 0.25 1.392 0.49
family 1 8
3 Reduced travelling WFH_Adv_3 92 3 5 4.58 0.615 -1.164 0.25 0.327 0.49
efforts and time 1 8
4 Safety from WFH_Adv_4 92 2 5 4.47 0.702 -1.146 0.25 0.748 0.49
transimission of 1 8
COVID -19
5 Better work lIfe WFH_Adv_5 92 2 5 4.39 0.741 -1.275 0.25 1.743 0.49
balance 1 8
6 Fewer Distractions WFH_Adv_6 92 3 5 4.62 0.552 -1.094 0.25 0.217 0.49
and stress 1 8
Disadvantages of         4.56 0.64 -1.39 0.25 1.66 0.50
WFH
                   
1 The challenge in WHF_Disadv_ 92 1 5 4.32 0.851 -1.317 0.25 1.869 0.49
distinguishing home 1 1 8
from work
2 Self-imposed burden WHF_Disadv_ 92 3 5 4.51 0.620 -0.890 0.25 -0.200 0.49
to work continuously 2 1 8
3 The sense of being WHF_Disadv_ 92 2 5 4.32 0.725 -0.740 0.25 -0.077 0.49
alienated from the big 3 1 8
decisions and even
promotions of an
organisation.
4 Intensification of work WHF_Disadv_ 92 1 5 3.82 0.925 -0.642 0.25 0.482 0.49
with 24/7 access to 4 1 8
equipment, resulting in
long hours, with no
work respite.
5 Some sitting habits WHF_Disadv_ 92 1 5 4.11 0.818 -1.312 0.25 3.225 0.49
escalate with the 5 1 8
ability to work at the
screen for extended
hours and trigger
physical issues.
6 Boredom and slow WHF_Disadv_ 92 2 5 3.72 0.881 -0.197 0.25 -0.649 0.49
working 6 1 8
7 Technological WHF_Disadv_ 92 1 5 4.07 0.887 -0.709 0.25 0.266 0.49
Hindrances 7 1 8
        4.12 0.82 -0.83 0.25 0.70 0.50
WFH Impact of
Productivity
1 I am satisfied with WHF_Impact_ 92 1 5 3.63 0.946 -0.227 0.25 -0.459 0.49
working from home Prod_1 1 8
2 My productivity has WHF_Impact_ 92 1 5 3.34 1.019 -0.277 0.25 -0.334 0.49
increased due to work Prod_2 1 8
from home
3 I have time to learn WHF_Impact_ 92 1 5 3.61 0.913 -0.374 0.25 0.177 0.49
new courses Prod_3 1 8
improving my career
 development
4 I have improved by WHF_Impact_ 92 1 5 3.73 0.903 -0.712 0.25 0.657 0.49
technical and Prod_4 1 8
telecommuting skills
5 My professionalism WHF_Impact_ 92 2 5 4.63 0.588 -1.688 0.25 3.532 0.49
has decreased due to Prod_5 1 8
work from home
6 My incentives and WHF_Impact_ 92 2 5 4.64 0.656 -2.093 0.25 4.742 0.49
rewards have Prod_6 1 8
decreased due to work
from home
    3.93 0.84 -0.90 0.25 1.39 0.50
Valid N 92
(listwise)