Work from Home During the Pandemic: The Impact of Organizational Factors on the Productivity of Employees in the IT Industry

Abstract

Since the virus was first identified in the city of Wuhan, China, in November 2019, the novel Coronavirus Disease or COVID-19, has spread all over the world and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as a pandemic. Everywhere, it has spread damage to life, the economy, organizations, employees and employment, including in India, forcing organizations to move to a Work from Home (WFH) business model to ensure continuity of operations. We reviewed a volume of literature on work, organizations, productivity and WFH and their impact both from a historical perspective and the ongoing research in the context of the pandemic. The lockdowns are a recent phenomenon and research studies on consequent WFH are limited. This study is one of the first major studies on WFH during the pandemic. Our research focussed on a sample of 526 professionals from the IT sector working across the globe. The research showed that about two thirds of IT employees reported an increased productivity while at WFH, making effective use of the time saved from commuting, as well as to meet increased expectations. The article examines the impact of WFH during the lockdown on the productivity of the IT employee, with particular reference to organizational factors. The research makes use of quantitative analysis as well as qualitative answers from respondents to our questionnaire in arriving at our final findings. The findings indicate that organizational factors, such as autonomy and empowerment, independence to employees, and a supportive environment were necessary for ensuring the productivity of employees, even during a WFH situation. We also find that continued WFH over several months had induced a sense of fatigue.