Abstract
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, vocational counselors in Switzerland more frequently worked from home (WFH) and less frequently worked on-site. The aim of this study was to assess how WFH corresponds with indicators of job performance and occupational wellbeing. More specifically, the current questionnaire study analyzed the increase in WFH, self-reported productivity, distractibility in WFH, current job satisfaction, work-life balance in WFH, and feeling of loneliness. Findings showed that the increase in WFH in vocational counseling psychologists during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in productivity and job satisfaction and with lower distractibility in WFH compared to work on-site. However, more frequent WFH was not significantly associated with improved work-life balance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vocational counselors who shared the office on-site with many colleagues experienced higher feeling of loneliness during WFH. Vocational counselors regarded the condition of WFH as productive and satisfying while work-life balance did not improve. The discussion sheds light on the potential WFH-related increase of boundary management demands.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic changed the work of many employees (Galliker et al, 2021a), on top of persisting occupational change toward more flexible work places and work times, as well as shorter working hours (Kamerade et al, 2019; Balderson et al, 2020).The same applied to vocational counselors, whose work environment changed significantly
When asked whether productivity in Working from home (WFH) was higher than on-site, most respondents were undecided in this question
The results confirm that vocational counseling psychologists working from home (WFH) reported lower distractibility, higher productivity, and job satisfaction compared to working on-site
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic changed the work of many employees (Galliker et al, 2021a), on top of persisting occupational change toward more flexible work places and work times, as well as shorter working hours (Kamerade et al, 2019; Balderson et al, 2020). The same applied to vocational counselors, whose work environment changed significantly. Working from home (WFH) increased largely (Galliker et al, 2021a). Before COVID-19, most vocational counseling happened in person. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online counseling was introduced, which can be used on-site as well as from home
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