Business Research Method

Assignment 1

Muhammad Kaab Zulfiquar

BBA-201095

CLASS: 5B

The Impact of Hybrid Business Era on Productivity of

Employees.

Problem Statement:
With the advent of the hybrid business era, employees are finding it
increasingly difficult to maintain a high level of productivity. This is due to
the fact that they are now required to complete tasks that are both physical
and mental in nature. Furthermore, they are also expected to be available
at all times in order to meet the demands of the business. As a result,
employees are finding it difficult to juggle their work and personal lives, and
are beginning to experience burnout. It is therefore important to address
the issue of employee productivity in the hybrid business era.

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Literature Review:
As part of a safety-first principle during the COVID-19 pandemics, the vast
majority of companies have enabled flexible working environments,
reducing the number of employees in the premises. The global best
practices have firstly been recorded among the ICT companies which
offered teleworking to their employees, empowering safety and flexibility
through remote work policies and flexible working hours. Although hybrid
working models might become a standard in many industries, only a
paucity of papers has examined the relationship between novel working
environments and various classes of intangible assets. The aim of this
paper is to present the effects of hybrid working models (telework and
flexible working hours) on intangible assets (human, relational, structural
and intellectual capital). While the existing hybrid work principles have
already shown mixed effects on corporate outcomes, its impact on
intangible assets remains unrevealed. To address this research gap, we
conducted an empirical study. Primary data were collected in the Serbian
ICT sector (N=122) using a structured questionnaire developed for this
purpose. Data was analyzed with the OLS regression. The results confirm
the positive effects of the hybrid working model on intangible assets of ICT
companies, which could further propel the financial success of these
companies. In general, these results imply that hybrid working models,
which are becoming a standard for many industries, would not jeopardize
the creation of intangible assets – the ultimate resource of modern
companies. (Radonić, The Case of an Emerging Country. Amfiteatru
economic, 2021)

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Factors Affecting the Productivity of IT Sector employees in Working
from Home
Knowing “about Self-Determination Theory is crucial and helpful for better
understanding the idea of employee engagement. Self-Determination
Theory, which (Ryan, 2000) is currently used to explain how people
naturally or intrinsically tend to act in healthy and productive ways. (Ryan &
Deci, 2000) make a distinction between several sorts of motivation in their
self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000) based on the many
motives or objectives that inspire an action. The most fundamental contrast
is between extrinsic and intrinsic drive, or doing something because it
results in a separate consequence and doing something because it is
intrinsically fascinating or pleasurable. Employees who start to retreat and
conceal their identities, opinions, and feelings end up disengaged and
defensive, which has a negative impact on how well they perform at work
(Ryan & Deci, 2000). The quality of experience and performance can
change significantly depending on whether one is acting for intrinsic vs
extrinsic motivations, according to research that spans more than three
decades. (Dixon, 2019)

The relationship between leaders and employees is crucial for energizing

workers and raising organizational profitability, claim (Osborne, 2017). The
profitability of a firm depends on improving employee engagement
techniques. Employee disengagement will lower workplace productivity and
customer service abilities. Organizational success depends on a leader's
ability to successfully apply employee engagement techniques.
Align efforts with strategy, Empower, Promote and encourage teamwork

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and collaboration, Help people grow and develop, Provide support and
recognition where appropriate

Without a work environment that fosters employee engagement, turnover

will rise and productivity would fall, resulting in low customer loyalty and
lost shareholder value, as indicated by (Lockwood, 2007). Therefore, it is
crucial for HR to build positive, successful people managers along with
workplace policies and practices that emphasize on employees' welfare,
health, and work/life balance because the cost of poor employee
engagement would be harmful to corporate performance.

According to (Bathini, 2015), the criteria that constitute personnel cost are:

Increase work stress, Loss of health, Social and professional isolation,

Negative appraisal impacted on career growth,

While the cost incurred by the employer as:

The technical setup is provided to the individual employee, Individual

monitoring, Changes in HR policy.

Home working was highlighted as a deliverable in a research by (Bloom,

Liang, Roberts, & Jenny, 2015) that provided examples of an experiment
carried out at CTrip, a NASDAQ-listed Chinese travel operator.

a 13% increase in efficiency. Other benefits included a higher level of work

satisfaction and much lower employee absenteeism and turnover.

2020 (Airtasker, 2020) A study found that compared to office workers,

telecommuters "worked 1.4 more days per month or 16.8 more days per
year."”
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Moreover, while the strict” traditional view of “showing” up in the office from
Monday through Friday is likely on the decline, the hybrid workplace with
flexibility can be introduced as some activities are not significantly affected
by the work location, either at home-based or corporate offices. The results
of this study also highlight the importance of organizations to support
productivity and satisfaction in the corporate office as well as home. With
the industry collaboration, future research of relatively large sample sizes
and study sites, investigating workers’ needs and adapted patterns of use
in home-based and corporate offices, will help corporate real estate
managers make decisions and provide some level of standardization of
spatial efficiency and configurations of corporate offices as well as
essential supports” for home offices. (Yang, Kim, Y, & Hong, S, 2021)

Hybrid working has become increasingly normal during the COVID-19

pandemic amongst many industries in Finland. It is an employee benefit
that companies can offer to their employees if they want to, but it is by no
means necessary” for companies to offer this possibility. Hybrid working
does pose challenges, such as not being able to monitor employees
properly, difficulties with collaboration, and difficulties with building trust.
However, hybrid working also has many upsides, for example, increased
work-life balance, and better productivity. Hybrid working is also not
accessible to everyone, which can bring out additional problems related to
equality”. (Wappula & Inka, 2022)

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References:

References
(n.d.).

Airtasker. (2020, December 6). The Benefits of Working From Home. Retrieved from m
https://www.airtasker.com/blog/the-benefits-of-working-from-home/

Bathini, D. R. (2015). Work from home: a boon or a bane? The missing piece. The Indian Journal of
Industrial Relations,, 568-574.

Bloom, Liang, Roberts, & Jenny. (2015). Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese
Experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics,, 165-218.

Dixon, S. (2019, Feb 7). “Yeah but, Yahoo!” Learning from Remote Work’s Biggest Fail. Retrieved from
https://distantjob.com/blog/yeah-but-yahoo-learning-fromremote-works-biggest-fail/

Lockwood, N. R. (2007). Leveraging employee engagement for competitive advantage. Society for
Human Resource Management Research Quarterly, 1-12.

Osborne, S. &. (2017). . Effective Employee Engagement in the Workplace. International Journal of
Applied Management and Technology, 50-67.

Radonić, M. a. (n.d.).

Radonić, M. a. (2021). The Case of an Emerging Country. Amfiteatru economic. The Impact of Hybrid
Workplace Models on Intangible Assets, 770-786.

Ryan, R. M. (2000). Classic definition and new. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, 54-67.

Wappula, & Inka. (2022). Employee Wellbeing and Inequality in a Hybrid Working World. Metropolia.
doi:https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/751147

Yang, E., Kim, Y, & Hong, S. (2021). Does working from home work? Experience of working from home
and the value of hybrid workplace post-COVID-19. Journal of Corporate Real Estate,. Retrieved
from https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRE-04-2021-0015

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