Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated a shift to remote working for previously office-based employees in South Africa, impacting employee outcomes such as well-being. The remote work trend is expected to continue even post the pandemic, necessitating for organizational understanding of the factors impacting employee well-being. Using the Job Demands–Resources model as the theoretical framework, this study aims to understand the role of job demands and resources as predictors of employee well-being in the pandemic context.

Design/methodology/approach

A self-administered online survey questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data about remote workers’ (n = 204) perceptions of specifically identified demands, resources and employee well-being. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and moderated hierarchical regression were used to analyse the data.

Findings

This study found that job demands in the form of work–home conflict were associated with reduced employee well-being. Resources, namely, job autonomy, effective communication and social support were associated with increased employee well-being. Job autonomy was positively correlated to remote work frequency, and gender had a significant positive association to work–home conflict. Social support was found to moderate the relationship between work–home conflict and employee well-being. Findings suggest that organizations looking to enhance the well-being of their remote workforce should implement policies and practices that reduce the demands and increase the resources of their employees. The significant association of gender to work–home conflict suggests that greater interventions are required particularly for women. This study advances knowledge on the role of demands and resources as predictors of employee well-being of remote workforces during COVID-19 and beyond.

Originality/value

This paper provides insight on employee well-being during COVID-19 remote work. Further, the findings suggest that organizations looking to enhance the well-being of their remote workforce should implement policies and practices that reduce the demands and increase the resources of their employees. The significant association of gender to work–home conflict suggests that greater interventions are required particularly for women. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study carried out to explore the employee well-being during COVID-19 pandemic and will be beneficial to stakeholders for understanding the factors impacting employee well-being.

中文翻译：

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探索员工在 COVID-19 远程工作期间的幸福感：来自南非的证据

目的

COVID-19 大流行迅速加速了南非以前在办公室工作的员工向远程工作的转变，影响了员工的福祉等成果。即使在大流行之后，远程工作趋势预计仍将继续，这需要组织了解影响员工福祉的因素。本研究以工作需求-资源模型为理论框架，旨在了解工作需求和资源在大流行背景下作为员工福祉预测指标的作用。

设计/方法/途径

使用自我管理的在线调查问卷来收集有关远程工作人员 ( n = 204) 对特定需求、资源和员工福利的看法的定量数据。使用描述性统计、Pearson 相关性和适度层次回归来分析数据。

发现

这项研究发现，工作与家庭冲突形式的工作要求与员工幸福感下降有关。资源，即工作自主权、有效沟通和社会支持与员工福祉的提高有关。工作自主性与远程工作频率呈正相关，性别与工作-家庭冲突呈显着正相关。发现社会支持可以缓和工作-家庭冲突与员工幸福感之间的关系。调查结果表明，希望提高远程员工福祉的组织应该实施减少需求并增加员工资源的政策和做法。性别与工作-家庭冲突之间的显着关联表明需要更多的干预措施，尤其是对女性而言。

原创性/价值

本文提供了有关 COVID-19 远程工作期间员工福祉的见解。此外，调查结果表明，希望提高远程员工福祉的组织应该实施减少需求和增加员工资源的政策和做法。性别与工作-家庭冲突之间的显着关联表明需要更多的干预措施，尤其是对女性而言。据作者所知，这是第一项探索 COVID-19 大流行期间员工福祉的研究，将有助于利益相关者了解影响员工福祉的因素。