THESIS

Name: Divya Deepa Kandregula

Student ID: 001143800

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INDEX:

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………03
2. Research Focus……………………………………………………………………………………………………….03
3. Research Question………………………………………………………………………………………………….04
4. Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………………………………….04
5. Literature Gap…………………………………………………………………………………………………………04
6. Empirical Content……………………………………………………………………………………………………05
7. Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………………………….05
8. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………06
9. References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………07

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Topic Name: Exploratory research to find out the right framework for Work From Home concept
from the viewpoint of Firm and Employee’s based in London

1. Introduction:

As per the article published by The Economist (2021), it was found that work from home scenario’s
increased by 60% post-Covid-19 pandemic, which was 5% before. This reveals that the world is now
being introduced with new techniques of working, which may not have been possible before.
However, this situation arises because of pandemic and social distancing restrictions, however,
many firms and employees are with the mixed belief on how they should approach this scenario
once everything becomes good. It’s a working situation that was never been researched or explored
before; therefore, the main theme of this thesis is to outline and explain how framework would be
made in the research paper that can benefit firms and employees with more clarity for better
decision making.

As stated by Chakrabarti (2020), lack of planning in firms is making employees more confused and
burn out, as they are not able to concentrate and be productive due to constant changes in working
approaches done by firms. Further, there are many complexities involved with various aspects such
as salary pay out, security, health benefits and other financial aspects, due to which proper
implementation or framework is not formulated based on which it can become clearer on what
should be done for more clarity (Greenway, Merriman and Montag-Smit, 2021). Apart from this,
productivity and efficiency levels also differ from person to person, to be precise, working women
who have kids to look after may feel more comfortable at home, however, on the other hand, a
person may become unproductive if he gets frustrated by the unsuitable working environment at
home.

Considering all these aspects, it becomes clear that work from home is a fresh concept, however, it
has become an important topic from the point of view of corporate and economy, it is the concept
that received many mixed opinions and has also been a highlight in many debates due to its
complexities. To resolve these issues and provide more clarity, this research work would aim to
gather various important research works and insights, and based on this, it would provide a
framework that would be beneficial to both employees and corporates to make further strategies.

2. Research Aim:

This research will focus primarily on businesses based in London. Further, the author wants to gather
data and insights from various employees and start-ups involved in various fields, due to which

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wider data would be collected, which would be categorized accordingly to mitigate any chance of
biasedness/extreme values.

Research would aim to gather both opinions and financial aspects needed for creating reliable
framework.

3. Research Question:
➢ How can businesses create the framework within which both employees and firms would get
benefits, with precise clarity in structure, financial aspects and policies?
4. Literature Review:

This research paper revolves around the concept of human resource and utilisation of proper
resources, therefore author aims to gather literature and insights from books based in these
fields. This would include “Predictive HR Analytics” (2016) by Kirsten and Martin Edwards,
“Fundamentals of Human Resource Management” (2018), by David Caughlin, Donald Truxilo,
Berrin Erdogan and Talya Bauer, “The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy and Performance”
by Brian Becker, Dave Ulrich and Mark Huselid.
Apart from this, to identify and access latest trends, statistics and use cases, author will also
derive data from reports published by Mckinsey (2020), ILO (2020) and PWC (2020).

5. Literature Gap:

After reading various research papers and findings it was found that some of the research papers
such as (Lund et al., 2020), (Aczel et al., 2021), (Vyas and Butakhieo, 2021), (Crosbie and Moore,
2004) and (Nakrošiene and Goštautaitė, 2019), had great fundamental findings and assumptions,
however, some papers were either created before covid-19 when seriousness and technology
support for such issue was not found therefore findings become irrelevant, whereas papers made
after covid-19 primarily were made during covid-19 peak days when covid-19 restrictions were not
laid off, further concept of work from home was also new to many employees and business, due to
which proper issues, problems or advantages/disadvantages may not be given by respondents.

Considering this, it becomes important to state that most of the businesses have now opened up,
especially in the UK, therefore this is the right time when respondents would have better responses
and businesses would have better data based on which comparative analysis can become legit,
therefore considering the time of research and new possibilities in terms of perceptions, trends and
finance, these dimensions will ensure that complete research on this matter would be concluded
based on concrete findings.

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 6. Empirical Content:

This research paper would conduct primary analysis which would be both qualitative and
quantitative method (mixed-method approach), wherein the focus would be on employees and
representatives of Startups based in London. Based on a realistic and logical approach, the author
believes that big corporates or MNC’s may not allow or disclose their financial information, due to
which it was believed that start-ups are the best businesses through which representatives can be
more open to providing insights, and further employees can be more approachable.

To be precise, the first step would be to categorize startups based on their business sectors such as
Technology, Fin-tech, Service providers, Supply chain and Logistics, Marketing and Advertisements
and E-Commerce, further 3 startups would be selected from each sector, and further 5 employees
would be selected for gaining response which would be in the form of Survey. Most of the
employees and Start-up heads such as CEO and CFO’s would be approached via LinkedIn. Employees
would respond via survey, whereas 15 mins interview would be conducted with the CEO/CFO to
understand the impact of work from home on their startups.

Based on these surveys I will gain more clarity on expectations, perceptions, ideologies, desires and
experience, which would become important for my framework.

7. Methodology:

For qualitative analysis, I would use the technique of narrative analysis through which a proper
pattern of answers would be identified so that they can be categorized accordingly. Apart from that,
to increase the reliability of my work, I would be using grounded theory. Finally, the use of CASDAQ
software would be initiated based on which research can become more auditable, reliable with
more accuracy and validity.

On the other hand, the quantitative analysis would be used to deduce survey responses which would
be reduced. Therefore, the first step in this analysis would be to use the method of Data Coding to
divide answers according to a specific pattern. The second step would involve the process of Data
cleaning, which would remove mistakes or inconstancies derived from the responses. Lastly, all
these data would be portrayed in a simplified manner used graphical representation, which would
include both bar chart and pie chart.

Lastly, rules and disciplinary measures derived from research ethics would be followed thoroughly,
which would include a citation and referencing every information I gather from another author.
Further, no manipulation or changes would be attempted in original responses.

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 8. Conclusion:

To conclude, based on the analysis I would ensure that the research question meets its requirement,
and I can gather and provide discussions that would provide a framework for many present
businesses/start-ups who have confusion on future approaches.

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References:

Aczel B, Kovacs M, van der Lippe T, Szaszi B (2021) Researchers working from home: Benefits and
challenges. PLoS ONE 16(3): e0249127. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249127

BECKER, B. E., HUSELID, M. A., & ULRICH, D. (2001). The HR scorecard: linking people, strategy, and
performance. Boston, MA, Harvard Business School Press.

Chakrabarti, A. (2020). Not a win-win situation — why we should not work from home after the Covid-
19 lockdown. [online] ThePrint. Available at: https://theprint.in/opinion/pov/not-a-win-win-situation-
why-we-should-not-work-from-home-after-the-covid-19-lockdown/397284/ [Accessed 25 Jul. 2021].

Crosbie,T & Moore,J. (2004). Work-Life Balance and Working from Home. Social Policy and Society. 3.
223-233. 10.1017/S1474746404001733.

Greenway, D., Merriman, K. and Montag-Smit, T. (2021). Employees are feeling burned over broken
work-from-home promises and corporate culture “BS” as employers try to bring them back to the
office. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/employees-are-feeling-
burned-over-broken-work-from-home-promises-and-corporate-culture-bs-as-employers-try-to-bring-
them-back-to-the-office-158692.

ILO (2020). WORK FROM HOME A POLICY PRESCRIPTION. [online] . Available at:
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---
act_emp/documents/newsitem/wcms_755686.pdf.

Lund, S., Madgavkar, A., Manyika, J. and Smit, S. (2020). What’s next for remote work: An analysis of
2,000 tasks, 800 jobs, and nine countries | McKinsey. [online] www.mckinsey.com. Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/whats-next-for-remote-work-an-
analysis-of-2000-tasks-800-jobs-and-nine-countries.

Lund, S., Madgavkar, A., Manyika, J. and Smit, S. (2020). What’s next for remote work: An analysis of
2,000 tasks, 800 jobs, and nine countries | McKinsey. [online] www.mckinsey.com. Available at:
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/whats-next-for-remote-work-an-
analysis-of-2000-tasks-800-jobs-and-nine-countries.

Nakrošiene, A & B, Goštautaitė, B. (2019). Working from home: characteristics and outcomes of
telework. International Journal of Manpower. 10.1108/IJM-07-2017-0172.

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Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B. A., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Fundamentals of human
resource management (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (2021). US Remote Work Survey. [online] PwC. Available at:

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/covid-19/us-remote-work-survey.html.

The Economist. (2021). The rise of working from home. [online] Available at:
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2021/04/08/the-rise-of-working-from-home.

Vyas, L. & Butakhieo, N. (2021) The impact of working from home during COVID-19 on work and life
domains: an exploratory study on Hong Kong, Policy Design and Practice, 4:1, 59-76, DOI:
10.1080/25741292.2020.1863560

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