A Study on the Preparedness of IT Employees for Work from Home during the COVID-19 Lockdowns

Abstract

Work from Home (WFH) has increasingly become an option offered by organisations to their employees, with mutual benefits to the organisation (in terms of decreased office rental costs) and to the employees (in terms of better work-life balance). It has become critical for business continuity for several industries during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during lockdown periods and due to social/physical distancing restrictions imposed by governments to curb the spread of the pandemic. Thus, working from home has become inevitable for some industries. However, the preparedness of employees for working from home has not been studied much in the literature. The objective of this study is to analyse the preparedness of employees for WFH and the satisfaction level of employees with respect to WFH with reference to the IT industry. The data for the study was collected online from a sample of 134 employees working in various IT companies in Chennai through a structured questionnaire. The study period pertained to the COVID-19 lockdowns from March 2020 to June 2021. The results of the study showed that most IT employees had never WFH before the COVID-19 lockdowns and that most IT employees initially were not fully prepared for WFH, particularly women employees as compared to men employees, younger employees as compared to older employees, and employees residing in rural areas as compared to employees residing in urban areas. The results of the study also showed that the overall satisfaction of the IT employees with WFH was most significantly impacted by satisfaction with processes, followed by satisfaction with the work environment (at home) and satisfaction with training during WFH. This suggests that IT companies should focus on processes, work environment (at home), and training to foster employee satisfaction with WFH.

Keywords: Work from Home (WFH), Preparedness, Satisfaction

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