In Pandemic Times: An Analysis from the Perspective of Public and Private Employees in the Home Office

Maria Conceição Da Costa ,Silvia Maria Do Espírito Santo ,Tomás Caycho-Rodríguez

doi:10.7176/rhss/11-10-01

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic was like a tsunami for companies. Before, an environment marked by the electronic punch clock, with limited hours, and then, public and private employees had to stay in their homes and deliver the same or more productivity to their companies. Due to this new global reality, this study was proposed with the objective of understanding how public and private employees perceive work in the home office during the pandemic period. For this understanding, the study used qualitative methodological procedures with exploratory characteristics. With appropriate consent, questionnaires were answered through the WhatsApp, which were answered through audio and subsequently validated by company participants, in a total of 28 participants, fourteen from the public company and fourteen from the private company, of both genders. The questionnaire consisted of a structured script with 18 questions, and was divided into two stages. In the first, there are questions about personal data and the second, questions about digital settlement. As a result, there was disbelief that the disease could reach Brazil; the level of anxiety by most employees of public and private companies; the difficulty of dealing with the new work environment, the family and the new discovery that one can work at home and reaching the goals. The understanding of working in a home office in a time of pandemic is that a new scenario will light up in companies, through demand from employees, to continue exercising their activities in a family environment, which will require new concepts of people management. Keywords: Pandemic. Home office. Public and private employees. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-10-01 Publication date: May 31 st 2021

Highlights

The third decade of the 21st century was accompanied by an unexpected fact at a global level, the spread of Coronavirus (Corona Virus Disease), bringing Covid-19 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020)
It was possible to analyze the profile of the group of respondents, validate the information and situate the results achieved from the working relationships in those existing in Brazil during the period of this research
The results are presented by classification of the surveyed companies, whether public or private, and consider two dimensions: in the first questioning the respondent's personal data, which brings a view of their profile; and the second about the digital settlement that allows us to understand how respondents perceive work in the home office during the pandemic period

Summary

Introduction

The third decade of the 21st century was accompanied by an unexpected fact at a global level, the spread of Coronavirus (Corona Virus Disease), bringing Covid-19 (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020). At the beginning of the expansion of the virus, without studying the severity of the disease, it was considered a flu, until an epidemic was thought to be limited to the country of origin of the disease. It was a pandemic, declared by the World Health Organization - WHO, on March 11, 2020. One of the measures established in some companies was the adhesion of some sectors to the home office, in activities that would have no detriment to its development. There was a need to adapt individuals to the work environment, with a concern for the family environment, in terms of customs and space for the development of the activity, with the imperative of formulating routines that balance the reality of work in domestic environment (RafalskI and De Andrade, 2015)

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion