Remote Work Implementation as Organizational Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries and organizations all around the world have had to respond to the ensuing events. With close to 22 million active COVID-19 cases as of January 1, 2021 (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/), COVID-19 is having a long-term effect on people’s health, quality of life, jobs, and income, as well as on the entire economy. According to the World Health Organization (2020), in December 2019, the initial cases of COVID-19, subsequently named SARS-CoV-2, were first reported in Wuhan, China. Many initially identified cases were linked to a food market in Wuhan. Many of the initial patients, such as salespersons, customers, stand owners, etc., worked or shopped at this market. Further analysis performed in December 2019 yielded positive results for SARS-CoV-2, indicating that the market in this Chinese city was either the source of the epidemic or at least played a significant role in the outbreak. As of March 11, 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) raised the level of the corona virus outbreak to a pandemic and advised countries to start adopting response measures and actions.

Whereas many nations have taken measures aimed at restricting and mitigating the spread of the virus – social distancing, bar and restaurant shutdowns, travel restrictions, complete lockdowns, etc., business organizations were forced to introduce general measures with a special focus on remote work as a completely new work arrangement. This means that work is focused more on the achievements and the results instead of the work space and physical presence. For many organizations that implemented the remote work concept, the implementation required a period of adaptation. The absence of clear boundaries between ‘work’ and ‘home’ lead to the increasing level of stress and to conflicts and they reduce work motivation. Adequate medical, material, and financial resources are the main variables to defeat the virus and they play an important role in protection and virus control. Even though a pandemic crisis such as the current one produces terrible effects, it also engenders innovations that play an important role for and benefit all of humanity. Similar to wars that brought us penicillin, GPS, microwave technology, etc., this pandemic will also create some innovations that will change the world (Ding & Li, 2021).

In the last few years, there has been an important emphasis on organizations’ response to crises, as they were forced to provide adequate response to the various types of events and threats that affect their business processes. In addition to being a social and health emergency, COVID-19 also poses a significant threat for many companies, especially with regard to their business continuity processes. When the pandemic first broke out, many companies introduced strict preventive measures aiming to reduce the spread of the virus in the offices. The most common measures include reduced physical interaction, increased level of hygiene and sanitization, dedicated COVID-19 website with the latest information, etc. Nevertheless, many companies devised a plan for their employees to alternate the days they are present in the office, for remote access to the company network, and for remote work (Margherita & Heikkilä, 2021). However, one of the biggest concerns for many companies was the work efficiency during remote work (Howe et al., 2020, p. 3). Adopting the remote work practice was a completely new experience for many companies. Without any previous preparation, companies were facing a significant change in terms of organizational culture, leadership style, business models, and processes. During remote work, output is evaluated on the basis of the achieved results and not on the basis of physical presence, as was the case in many companies during traditional work organization.