The effect of staff morale during telecommuting in the health sector of a public institution in the Western Cape

Ethics approval/clearance certificate : 2021_FBMSREC 055 <br> With the sudden onset of Covid-19, traditional working arrangements changed drastically when staff started to work from home (WFH). Looking after the wellbeing and morale of staff working remotely was found to be challenging as face-to-face contact was minimised, and this contributed to lowered staff morale. The main research objectives of this study were to determine whether telecommuting had an impact on staff morale, to assess whether staff feel they could remain productive during telecommuting periods, as well as to predict and forecast whether telecommuting will be considered a viable working method. Thirty-four respondents formed part of this study through convenience and purposive sampling. The initial conceptual framework was based on the following constructs: staff wellbeing and morale, work-life balance, organisational support, social and professional isolation, productivity, stress, and job demands. Fisher’s model of Conceptualizing and Measuring Wellbeing at Work, Danna and Griffin’s Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace theory and Baruch and Nicholson’s four factors of Teleworking framework provided context to the conceptual framework. The finding was that telecommuting mostly had a positive impact on staff wellbeing and morale. It was evident that staff went through an adapting phase when they initially started to WFH, but after adapting, they felt they could be more productive and that working from home increased their productivity. WFH in a hybrid approach was deemed a feasible option going forward. Through the Covid-19 pandemic, the DoH has acquired a more tech-savvy workforce consisting of staff members who worked self-sufficiently and mostly isolated at home. This means that the organisation should relook the way staff can work going forward, as traditional methods of work will need to be modernised. It would also be good to retain the various efficiencies the organisation acquired during the WFH period. It is recommended that the organisation review the WFH working hours for different teams, consider more efficient communication sessions and options, reengineer existing weekly planning schedules, facilitate more virtual training sessions and retain Covid-19 WFH efficiencies. In addition, it is also recommended that a WFH Hybrid model be adapted for the organisation.

伦理审批/许可证明：2021_FBMSREC 055
随着新冠疫情（Covid-19）的突然爆发，员工开始居家办公（WFH），传统工作安排发生了剧烈变化。由于面对面接触被降至最低，维护远程办公员工的福祉与士气被证明具有挑战性，这也导致了员工士气的下降。
本研究的主要目标包括：确定远程办公（telecommuting）是否对员工士气产生影响，评估员工是否认为自己在远程办公期间能够保持生产力，以及预测远程办公是否会被视为一种可行的工作方式。
本研究通过便利抽样与目的抽样选取了34名受访者。
初始概念框架基于以下构念（constructs）：员工福祉与士气、工作-生活平衡、组织支持、社会与职业隔离、生产力、压力及工作需求。Fisher的工作福祉概念化与测量模型、Danna和Griffin的职场健康与福祉理论，以及Baruch和Nicholson的远程办公四因素框架，为该概念框架提供了理论背景。
研究发现，远程办公对员工福祉与士气大多具有积极影响。显然，员工在最初开始居家办公（WFH）时经历了适应期，但适应后，他们认为自己能够更高效，并觉得居家办公提升了其生产力。混合模式下的居家办公（WFH）被认为是未来可行的选择。
在新冠疫情期间，DoH培养了一支更精通技术的员工队伍，其中包括能够自主工作且大多居家隔离的员工。这意味着该组织应重新审视未来员工的工作方式，因为传统工作方法需要现代化。
建议该组织审查不同团队的居家办公（WFH）时长，考虑更高效的沟通会议与方案，重新设计现有周计划日程，推动更多虚拟培训课程，并保留新冠疫情期间居家办公（WFH）的效率优势。此外，还建议为该组织采用居家办公混合模式。