IMPACT OF WORKING FROM HOME ON PRODUCTIVITY & PERFORMANCE, EVIDENCE FROM NORTH AMERICAN LOGISTICS INDUSTRY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of shifting all employees from office-based working to working from home (WFH) on productivity and performance. Before the COVID-19 Pandemic, there were no instances of companies moving all of their employees to WFH indefinitely. This is one of the first case studies analyzing this new phenomenon supported by hard criteria for productivity and performance measures. We define productivity as the quantity and performance as the quality of the output. We collected our data from a North American 3rd Party Logistics company and employed a multimethod approach to examine the effects of this organizational change forced by the COVID-19 Pandemic. We gathered data from the employees through video interviews and online surveys. We compiled the performance metrics from the corporate database and received commentary from top management. We also used national statistics databases to delineate the specific market conditions. Figures indicate evident improvements in revenues, profits, and labor productivity after the shift to WFH. We also examined other potential moderating factors, such as changes in market conditions, improvements in business processes, and/or management approaches, to distinguish the effect of remote working. Overall results show that when accompanied by solid leadership strategies and proper communications, and with investment in IT technologies, working from home improves productivity with little or no effect on performance. Our findings offer valuable insights for managers who need to make strategic decisions about WFH arrangements for their companies, especially brokerage-type businesses, more specifically those in the logistics industry. The study is based on data from a case study involving one company, preventing the authors from generalizing their findings.