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Araullo University – PHINMA Education Network

Graduate School

Title: “Analysis of Working from Home as a Permanent Work

Setup Option”

Researcher: Frances Alyzza C. Sanqui

Course/Degree: Master of Science in Business Administration

Subject: ENG 046 Methods of Research

Professor: Donabel M. Germino

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CHAPTER I

The Problem and Review of Related Literature

Introduction

Working from home (WFH), also known as flexible workplace,

remote work, or distance working is a work arrangement in which

employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an

office building, warehouse, or store. Technology has

drastically improved over the years, with computers and

smartphones being released yearly that have more features to

help work productivity.

The internet now has been significantly faster and more

accessible compared to how it was ten to fifteen years ago, and

this opened up possibilities of alternative working

arrangements. Advancements in information and communication

technologies greatly enhanced the implementation of WFH.

WFH became the dominant work setup since the COVID-19

pandemic began last March 2020. To mitigate the spread of the

virus among the workforce, companies were forced to make their

employees work from the confines of their homes.

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Although this arrangement became largely known and

implemented because of the recent pandemic, some companies have

been using this way before the pandemic hit, like IT and BPO

companies. While businesses are now gradually making their

employees work on-site, the number of firms using the WFH setup

is likely to remain much higher than it was before the pandemic.

This incident showed many people that their jobs could be done

at home as easily as in the office, if not better, given the

right resources.

Compared to Working from the Office (WFO), WFH has the

potential to reduce commute time, provide more flexible working

hours, increase job satisfaction, and improve work-life

balance. However, little is yet known about some of the more

fundamental consequences of WFH, including its effects on

productivity and which factors play a role in making WFH more

or less productive than WFO (WSJ, 2020; Financial Times, 2021b).

Some of the disadvantages that employees said they experienced

when working from home include failure to recognize boundaries

between personal time and working hours, a decline in social

life, higher communication costs, additional expenses in

obtaining gadgets and tools used in WFH, and fluctuation in

work productivity.
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The option to work from home is strongly dependent upon a

person's occupation and the tasks they are required to perform.

WFH is particularly suited to office-based workers who rely on

computers for their work, have fewer interactions with other

people, do not perform outdoor work or physical activity, and

do not work with immovable structures, materials, or equipment.

And so, there is a need to analyze if WFH can be a permanent

work arrangement and if employers should give their workers the

option to work remotely. Advantages and drawbacks would be

weighed to see if the continuous implementation of the setup

should be retained.

Bank employees, especially in the branch and loan

operations unit, being essential workers or economic

frontliners, are only authorized to WFH when exposed to COVID-

19. The researcher, involved in a bank's loan operations, is

inclined to analyze if WFH should be an option as a permanent

work arrangement in the bank, instead of only being implemented

when there is exposure to the virus.

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Review of Related Literature and Study

Due to the pandemic, adapting alternative working

arrangements is the key to business continuity. For example,

banks, particularly in the branch units, primarily deal with

clients who deposit or withdraw their savings. This is

impossible to do when the teller is working from home, because

the system needed to record the movement of the money, and the

money itself, is safeguarded in the bank's premises. To get

around this limitation, and at the same time not compromise the

health of the teller when working from the office, the banks

have implemented a work arrangement called skeletal workforce

wherein there are sets of employees, usually two, and only one

set is required to report to the office for a specific period

while the other works from home.

Firms and big corporations are not the only ones that have

to be flexible because of the pandemic; small businesses with

physical stores have shifted online as well, to reduce exposure

to COVID-19 and to save on operating expenses.

Therefore, it is important to understand how working from

home can be a permanent work setup, because this could change

how people will do economic activities in the long run.

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Working From Home as a Popular E-Business Model

Reshma, Aithal, Shailashree, and Sridhar Acharya (2015)

defined working from home as "people working from their home or

from other location of their choice other than the working area

by payment which is provided by the employer". Reshma et al

(2015) observed that "WFH has been useful in recent years; with

this arrangement, employees have decreased traveling expenses

and have a chance for better homely food. For the employers or

service providers, it can decrease overhead expenses such as

office maintenance and rent."

According to Reshma et al (2015) "In today's growing world,

there is an urgent need for working at home. To improve employee

retention during busy and stress-filled life, they require some

leisure or relaxation time. Through working from home, one can

have free access towards a specific job through fewer

interruptions from fellow employees in the office, and

communication time is also wider. (Baruch Y., 2001),(Bussing

A.,1998)

The number of employees working from home has tripled

(Mateyka, Rapino & Landivar, 2012). According to the recent

studies conducted, even if the location of the study is

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different, the results achieved in terms of the output compared

to the study during office hours are rather similar. There were

no changes in productivity from the working group, but those

who worked from home were 13 percent more productive. The

records kept by a survey agency showed much increase in

productivity earned by the employees at home and they worked

more hours than that of the work done in an office. The survey

revealed that the home workers also reported substantially

higher work satisfaction and less work exhaustion. (Cascio W.F.,

2000)(Moritz and Samuells, 2005)."

Working From Home and Productivity

According to Gibbs, Mengel & Siemroth (2021), their

research "contributes to a broad agenda in economics trying to

understand determinants of individual productivity. A

significant amount of work has focused on incentive pay (e.g.,

Lazear, 2000; Hamilton et al., 2003; Shearer, 2004; Babcock et

al., 2015; Friebel et al., 2017; Aakvik et al., 2017; Dohmen

and Falk, 2011). Some research looks at the effects of other

human resource practices, particularly those aimed at eliciting

employee participation in continuous improvement, and on

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complementarities between these policies (Ichniowski et al.,

1995; Ichniowski and Shaw, 2003; Bartel et al., 2007)."

Gibbs et al (2021) noted that "there is limited research

in other areas, such as ways to engage employees in innovation

(Gibbs et al., 2017). Some literature study the effects of

supervisors (Lazear et al., 2015) or peers (Bandiera et al.,

2005; Arcidiacono et al., 2017; Song et al., 2018). Gibbs et al

(2021) state that presumably, peer effects would be weaker

during WFH as there is no face-to-face interaction and probably

less overall interaction. Supervisor effects might be stronger

if managers vary significantly in their ability to lead and

coordinate virtual teams.

A growing literature analyzes working from home policies.

At the start of the pandemic, a few papers predicted the

likelihood that a job would shift from WFO to WFH, typically

using descriptions of occupations in classifications such as

O*NET (e.g., Dingel and Neiman, 2020; Adams-Prassl et al.,

2020). The industry and occupations analyzed here are among

those predicted most likely to effectively switch to WFH.

Several surveys document the incidence of WFH, and

perceptions of its effects (Bick et al., 2020; Brynjolfsson et

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al., 2020; Von Gaudecker et al., 2020; Gottlieb et al., 2021;

Hensvik et al., 2020).

Professionals, managers, knowledge workers, those in

clerical support or data processing, and those with higher

education or income make more use of WFH. In the UK Household

Longitudinal Survey, employees who work from home have stated

that they are about as productive as in the office (Etheridge

et al., 2020). Those who perceive declines also experience lower

levels of well-being from WFH.

Bellmann and Hübler (2020) find that working remotely has

no long-run effect on work-life balance and that a switch to

WFH increases job satisfaction only temporarily. Barrero et al.

(2020) estimate that WFH reduced total commuting time among US

workers by more than 60 million hours per workday at the height

of the pandemic, and that about 35% of this time saved was

reallocated to work."

The Benefits of Working From Home: Why The Pandemic Isn’t

the Only Reason to Work Remotely

The COVID-19 pandemic obligated companies all around the

globe to send their employees home to work virtually and

remotely. The urgency to provide employees access to all the

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tools they would need to work from home was a bit sudden for

most employers.

But after everyone had adjusted, what quickly became

apparent to many office-based units is that employees have the

potential to be productive and focused when not in the office

– in many cases, even more so than usual. Employers all around

began to understand that remote work works, and it has several

advantages.

First is a better work-life balance; remote jobs have more

flexible schedules, which means that workers can begin and end

their day as they choose, as long as their daily work task is

complete and leads to strong outcomes. This control over their

work schedule can be invaluable when it comes to attending to

the needs of their personal life.

Second is less commute stress; the average commuter time

of an employee is 30 minutes, which varies on the distance of

their residence from the office. Ditching the commute helps one

support their mental and physical health.

The third advantage is location independence. One of the

considerable benefits of working from home is that a broad range

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of job opportunities have become accessible because these are

not limited by geographic location anymore.

The fourth is money savings. Gas, car maintenance,

transportation, professional wardrobe, meals bought out, and

more can all be lessened or eliminated if a person is working

from home. Employers also benefit from this financially, because

they can save on overhead, real estate costs, transit subsidies,

and others.

The fifth advantage is increased productivity and

performance. Working from home leads to fewer office politics,

a quieter noise level, and less (or more efficient) meetings.

Factor in the lack of commute and remote workers typically have

more time and fewer distractions, which leads to increased

productivity — a huge benefit of working from home for both

employees and employers alike.

The last benefit is a happier, healthier work life. Remote,

workers tend to be happier and more loyal employees, in part

because working from home has been shown to lower stress,

provide more time for hobbies and interests, and improve

personal relationships, among other things.

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Conceptual Framework

This study is based on the concept of identifying employees

that can work from home, and if they should be given the option

to work remotely, even in post-pandemic. The study focused on

the benefits and advantages of working from home, and how this

would not affect productivity and performance.

Employees that
can WFH
-Those who rely Retain work-
on computers for from-home
their work (WFH)
arrangement
-Those that have (if
less interactions Advantages of productivity
with other people Flexible is the same or
Working improved)
-Those that do Arrangements
not perform or Work from Resume
outdoor work or Home (WFH) working from
physical activity
the office
-Those who do not (WFO)(if
work with productivity
immovable is affected)
structures,
materials or
equipment

Figure 1

Paradigm of the Study

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Definition of Terms

Working from home (WFH) or flexible workplace or remote

working – this refers to people working from their home or from

other location of their choice other than the work office or

building while being paid by their employer.

Working from the office (WFO) – this refers to people

working in their actual place of work or office and not in some

other location.

I.T. company – stands for an information technology

company, is a company that oversees the use of computers to

create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of

electronic data and information.

B.P.O. – stands for business process outsourcing; this is

the delegation of one or more IT-intensive business processes

to an external provider that, in turn, owns, administrates and

manages the selected processes based on defined and measurable

performance metrics.

Flexible or alternative work arrangements – these are

alternate arrangements or schedules from the traditional

working day and week.

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Business continuity – this is an organization's ability to

maintain essential functions during and after a disaster has

occurred.

Job satisfaction – it is a feeling of fulfillment or

enjoyment that a person derives from their job.

Work-life balance - is a term used for the idea that you

need time for both work and other aspects of life, whether those

are family-related or personal interests.

Skeletal or skeleton workforce - The minimum number of

employees needed to operate a business during a vacation,

weekend, or other period when people do not normally work, or

full staffing is not necessary.

Productivity - the effectiveness of productive effort,

especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of

output per unit of input.

E-business model - the approach a company takes to become

a profitable business on the Internet.

Incentive pay - is the financial reward for performance

rather than pay for the number of hours worked

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Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine which employees can work from

home, and if they should have the option to work remotely even

after the pandemic, as well as the benefits of flexible working

arrangements. Specifically, it aims to seek the answers to the

following questions:

1. Which employees/jobs are qualified in working from home

indefinitely?

2. What are the benefits in working from home?

3. Is productivity improved, the same, or worse when

working remotely?

4. Should employees have the option to work remotely, even

after the pandemic?

Hypothesis the Study

There is no significant difference in the productivity of

employees when working remotely as compared to working from the

office.

Significance of the Study

The results of this study might be significant and of

great benefit to the following persons concerned:

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Employees from different sectors. Different employees can

benefit from this study because they would be aware that work

from home can be advantageous to them in terms of less commute

time, work-life balance and money savings.

Companies from different sectors. Companies and firms can

use this study to determine if they should continue the

alternative work arrangement that they are currently

implementing or if they should require employees to work in the

office again.

The researcher. In doing this research, the researcher

gains knowledge about remote working that can be applied in her

workplace.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study aims to determine which employees can work from

home and if they should have the option to work remotely even

after the pandemic, as well as the benefits of flexible working

arrangements. The study will be conducted among five companies

from different sectors, with ten respondents each, that can

implement the WFH arrangement, and surveys will be used in

obtaining data from the respondents.

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CHAPTER II

Method

Research Design

The study uses a qualitative research design. Qualitative

research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and

interpreting non-numerical data, such as language. It can be

used to comprehend how an individual subjectively perceives and

gives meaning to different things. It is mainly analytical

research. Qualitative research depends on data attained by the

researcher from first-hand observation, interviews,

questionnaires, focus groups, participant-observation,

recordings made in natural settings, documents, and artifacts.

Participants of the Study

The participants of the study will be 50 random employees

in different age groups from 10 companies in different

industries in Cabanatuan City that are implementing the WFH and

skeletal workforce (or WFO) arrangements.

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Research Site

The research will be conducted within Cabanatuan City,

Nueva Ecija.

Materials and Instruments

Since qualitative research is the design to be used in

this study, personal interviews with the employees will be

conducted to gain understanding of their opinions regarding

working from home, and questionnaires will also be handed out

to assess the number of employees with similar experiences.

Data Collection

The researcher will prepare a letter to ask for permission

from the ten companies for the conduct of interviews with their

employees who have worked from home. The researcher will select

employees from different age groups at random and interview

them personally.

Data Analysis

The data will be analyzed by examining the information

that employees gave during the interviews and in answering the

questionnaires regarding their experience in WFH.

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