A Reflection of WFH: Work-Family-Happy Life Balance Amid the

Pandemic

I. Introduction

In early 2020, the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) spread that

affected all over the world created economic and social shock, which
specifically in the organization world will likely reshape the way people live
and work and the way in which industries and organizations operate. One of
the most observable changes because of the COVID-19 pandemic is
teleworking, telecommuting, or the working from home policy across
occupations (Kramer and Kramer 2020). Teleworking was suggested by the
World Health Organization to be implemented by governments and
organizations around the world as a new work innovation to prevent the
spread of the virus as well as a solution so that work can be performed as
usual. This refers to a flexible working approach not constrained by time,
place, type of technical communication, and the use of information. Working
from home was inevitable, but the pandemic turned it into a compulsion. It
is speculated that even after the pandemic has ended, this current global job
norm will continue. Not only the way in which organizations work, but also
the relationship between workers and employers has been deeply impacted
by this transition. The working from home policy has some potential
advantages and risks while must be considered. Working from home is
effective to improve the quality of life (Azarbouyeh and Jalali Naini 2014),
employee happiness, work satisfaction (Kazekami 2020), and openness to
creativity that will lead to innovation (Ellis and Webster1998).

WFH has beneficial effects for both employers and employees. The
advantages, include and are not limited to reduced commuting time,
avoiding office politics, using less office space, increased motivation,
improved gender diversity (e.g. women and careers), healthier workforces
with less absenteeism and turnover, higher talent retention, job satisfaction,
and better productivity (Mello 2007; Robertson, Maynard, and McDevitt
2003). Studies indicated evidence for these benefits; for example, the
research in the Greater Dublin Area by Caulfield (2015) found employees
saving travel time and value of travel time. Some studies point out that
telework can reduce turnover rate and increase employees’ productivity, job
engagement, and job performance (Collins and Moschler 2009; Delanoeije
and Verbruggen 2020). Similarly, e–working can increase productivity,
flexibility, job satisfaction, WLB, including reducing work-life conflict and
commuting (Grant et al. 2019). Additionally, Purwanto et al. (2020) argued
that WFH could support employees in terms of flexible time to complete the
work and save money for commuting to work.

Conversely, the drawbacks of WFH, include the blurred line between

work and family, distractions, social isolation, employees bearing the costs
related to WFH. According to Purwanto et al. (2020), there are certain
drawbacks of WFH, such as employees working at home must pay for
electricity and the internet costs themselves. Collins and Moschler (2009)
found that workers were isolated from their coworkers, and managers
concerned about reductions in productivity while working from home.
Moreover, the relationship between coworkers could also be harmed
(Gajendran and Harrison 2007). Employees might be distracted by the
presence of young children or family members while working at home
(Baruch 2000; Kazekami 2020) along with blurred boundaries between work
and family life lead to overwork (Grant et al. 2019).

In a similar vein, the management of boundaries between work and

family of remote workers studied by Eddleston and Mulki (2017) revealed
that WFH relates to the inability of remote workers to disengage from work.
Studies have shown that WLB can be enhanced by working from home.
Similarly, Grant et al. (2013) stated that e-working would improve WLB, and
e-workers found it possible to combine work-life and non-work life. E–
workers found that their productivity was improved by e–working (Grant et
al. 2019). Bloom et al. (2015) found job satisfaction to increase by working
from home. WFH is also positively associated with family-life satisfaction
(Arntz, Sarra, and Berlingieri 2019; Virick, DaSilva, and Arrington 2010).
Kazekami (2020) studied the productivity of workers in Japan and
discovered that telework increases life satisfaction.

WFH has become a policy priority for most governments to cope with
the pandemic. In doing so, the policies must be made keeping in mind the
practicality for both employers and employees as there will be some
consequences for the two groups in one way or another.

As we shift to new work arrangements, there are some factors that will
be compromised and might be neglected. The quality time at home and
balancing personal and professional aspects of life will be contributing
factors that might be at risk because of the pandemic. The imbalances
between roles men and women played at home because of the pandemic
greatly affect one another. The women in which the one in-charge of the
home will likely get more tasks as she also brings works at home, in the
other hand men, most likely will be focused on their job as they are also
being considered by women/housewives at home. One explanation is that
men are not at home or come home late and therefore are less involved in
housework and childcare. Considering this, their involvement in housework
and childcare may have grown when their home became their place of work
under the pandemic.

There is another critical issue that must be considered when

considering the relationship between working from home: the possibility that
working from home will lead to overwork. It has been pointed out that, if
they are not limited to under the pandemic, flexible work styles that involve
the use of ICT equipment could lead to increased worker stress and interfere
in private life. There are concerns that working from home could blur
boundaries between working and non-working hours, for example, leading
to longer working hours.
 Work From Home practices requires a lot as we adapt to the changes
that the pandemic has brought to us. The working hours will be extended
and there might be less quality time for the family and WFH arrangements
also result overworking. But such problem will be remedied if one can
balance working your work and working at home. Work-life balance is
described as achieving a balance between employees’ family or personal life
and work lives (Jyothi and Jyothi 2012). The concept of work–life balance is
built on the idea that work life and personal life complement each other in
presenting perfection in one’s life. Furthermore, men and women employ
flexible working in various ways, resulting in varied outcomes in terms of
well-being and work–life balance (Chung and van der Lippe 2020; López-
Igual and Rodríguez-Modroño 2020). Work–life balance can affect employee
performance both positively and negatively. An imbalance between work and
personal life can have an impact on low productivity and decreased
performance of a person for an organization (Konrad and Mangel 2000;
Cohen and Liani 2009). The individual will feel stressed when they lack the
necessary resources to fulfill both work and family roles. The previous study
shows that work–life balance was positively related to job satisfaction
(Jackson and Fransman 2018).

Generally, keeping a balance life amidst the pandemic will be possible

if one can handle properly his tasks and endeavors. Being a hands-on
school head working under enormous pressure to put together the
emergency response to schooling amidst a pandemic and a same time a wife
and a mother of two, and a social being, maintaining balance among the
three phases of my life is important for me to perform my responsibilities
with harmony and efficiency. Handling both responsibilities at home and in
school greatly challenged me as a person but with the support and
encouragement of the people around me, these endeavors became a great
opportunity for me to show that as a working woman, as a mother and as
daughter I keep my obligations in tract and I make sure that none of my
responsibilities were jeopardized.