Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the majority of the world’s organisations through making remote work a part and parcel of everyday life. The number of people working remotely has increased substantially creating a challenge for the organisations to manage and involve their personnel. Engagement and involvement of the personnel are major factors contributing to a positive outcome of the remote work processes. The aim of this research paper is to establish what the engagement and involvement of the personnel are while practising remote work in the Latvian financial institutions. This research paper put forward the following issues for exploration: what is the engagement of the financial institutions’ personnel in their work while working remotely? What is the involvement of the financial institutions’ personnel in their work while working remotely? Is there a link between engagement and involvement of the financial institutions’ personnel during remote work? This paper explores the definitions of engagement and involvement by various authors and many forms of remote work putting emphasis on expansion of remote work due to the pandemic. The research made use of 3 surveys: a survey on the engagement of personnel during remote work, a survey on involvement of the personnel during remote work and a survey on the personnel’s opinion on remote work compiled by the authors of this research paper. There were 98 full-time employees of financial institutions participating in the research who were transferred from office jobs to a form of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the research demonstrate that only a fraction of the financial institutions’ personnel were engaged and involved during their remote work and that institutions had to resort to additional measures in order to promote involvement and engagement of the rest of the personnel and attain better operational results. The major problems highlighted by the results of the research are: insufficient internal information exchange and co-operation. The personnel feel responsible for the performance of their work, but admit to lacking inspiration that would foster their engagement. They also acquired negative experiences while working remotely. The results of the research identify a need for further research on the significance of the internal culture and communication of financial organisations for the promotion of involvement and engagement of personnel during remote work.
Highlights
Engagement of PersonnelResearch by Gallup demonstrates that in their drive for the planned operational results, the companies that lay great emphasis on satisfying people’s need for psychological engagement achieve the best results
Three surveys were used for the acquisition of primary data: Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) consisting of 3 survey scales: Vigor, Absorption, and Dedication along with questions; Job Engagement Scale (JES) (Rich, LePine & Crawford, 2010) consisting of 3 survey scales: Physical involvement, Emotional involvement and Cognitive involvement along with questions; and a survey compiled by the authors of this research paper on the personnel’s opinion on remote work consisting of 4 scales: Employee satisfaction, Internal communication, Work intensity/work load, and their Emotions along with 17 questions
The research questions were the following: what is the engagement of the financial institutions’ personnel in their work while working remotely? What is the involvement of the financial institutions’ personnel in their work while working remotely? Are there statistically significant correlations between the ratings of engagement and involvement of the financial institutions’ personnel during remote work? The general sample of the study consists of mid-level personnel of the Latvian financial sector aged from 20 to 61 years old, working in Riga, whose principal employment before the COVID-19 pandemic was in the office, but changed to a remote work format in 2020
Summary
Research by Gallup demonstrates that in their drive for the planned operational results, the companies that lay great emphasis on satisfying people’s need for psychological engagement achieve the best results. By long-term planning the following is meant – to do more, especially in terms of the working environment experience of the personnel, than the current situation requires from the company so that, as a result, people would come to work not because they have to, but because they want to (Morgan, 2017) This indicates that the personnel have to go an extra mile, but already from the beginning the employer has to thoroughly consider the environment where the personnel will have to work - about its values and targets, so that this physical, cognitive and emotional environment is unified and stimulates positive feelings and results. The authors of this research paper wanted to study involvement and engagement in the remote work of mid-level personnel of Latvian financial companies who had not practised remote work before the COVID-19 pandemic
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