Perception and Preference for Home-Based Telework in the COVID-19 Era: A Gender-Based Analysis in Hanoi, Vietnam

Impacts of COVID-19 on Future Preferences Toward Telework

This paper presents a study in capturing the impacts of the mandatory pandemic-induced telework practice on workers' perceptions of the benefits, challenges, and difficulties associated with telecommuting and how those might influence their preference for telework in the future. Data was collected through an online survey conducted in South Florida in May 2020. Survey data showed that telework indices (either measured through actual behavior or stated preference) before, during, and after the pandemic were heterogeneous across socio-economic, demographic, and attitudinal segments. Before the outbreak, males, full-time students, those with PhD degrees, and high-income people showed higher percentages of involvement in jobs with a telework option. They also had higher pro-technology, pro-online education, workaholic, and pro-telework attitudes. During the pandemic, professional/managerial/technical jobs as well as jobs with lower physical-proximity measures showed the highest telework frequency. In view of future telework preferences, our analysis showed that those who were more pro-telework, pro-technology, and showed less dislike of telework dislike preferred higher telework frequency. A structural equation model was developed to assess the impacts of different predictors on telework behavior before the pandemic and preferences after the pandemic. While telework frequency before the pandemic was highly affected by the pro-telework attitude, the after-pandemic preferences were influenced by several other attitudes such as dislike telework, enjoy interaction, workaholic, as well as productivity factors. This might confirm the assumption that the mandatory practice through the pandemic has provided employees more experiences with work-from-home arrangements, which could reshape decisions and expectations around telework adoption in the future.

Telework during the Covid-19 pandemic and the work-nonwork conflict

Purpose

This study aims to analyze the relationship between telework and teleworkers’ characteristics and the work-nonwork conflict (WNWC) in the Brazilian context, investigating time spent in eight nonwork dimensions and the more affected dimensions.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was quantitative and descriptive. A survey was conducted with 299 professionals’ teleworking in Brazil. Data analysis was conducted through descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and analysis of variance.

Findings

Results show diversified interests other than work and family among teleworkers, variation within the affected nonwork dimensions in the WNWC, and that teleworkers’ WNWC is negatively associated with time flexibility and manager support and positively associated with individual preference for segmentation as a boundary management strategy.

Research limitations/implications

The study highlights the need to include more nonwork aspects in telework studies to influence organizational practices. The main limitation is the nonprobabilistic sample.

Practical implications

Knowing more about teleworkers’ WNWC will help organizations improve lives by implementing practices and building a cultural environment that preserves nonwork time.

Social implications

The study reinforces demands from new family arrangements and an aging society: organizations have to prepare to have teleworkers who want or need to dedicate time to interests besides family or children.

Originality/value

It progresses towards a broad understanding of nonwork besides family to understand teleworkers’ WNWC.

Professional isolation and pandemic teleworkers' satisfaction and commitment: The role of perceived organizational and supervisor support

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has abruptly and profoundly changed the way people interact with their organization, their colleagues and their supervisor.

Objective

This study assesses the effects of telework-induced professional isolation due to the pandemic. Drawing on organizational support theory, this study examines the relationship between professional isolation and satisfaction with the telework experience and affective organizational commitment during mandatory teleworking caused by the COVID-19 crisis. It does so by focusing on the moderating role of perceived organizational and supervisor support in these relations.

Methods

Data was collected via self-reported survey questionnaires from 728 pandemic teleworkers from various industry sectors in Quebec during the COVID-19 crisis. The study's hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM), and moderation effects were probed with the Johnson-Neyman technique.

Results

The results reveal that professional isolation negatively affects satisfaction with the telework experience, but does not affect affective organizational commitment. The relationship between satisfaction with telework and professional isolation was moderated by perceived organizational support, and the relationship between affective organizational commitment and professional isolation was moderated by perceived supervisor support.

Conclusion

This study expands the organizational support theory by examining perceived organizational and supervisor support during a crisis as a counterbalance to a challenging social and organizational climate that has led to professional isolation. The implications of the findings as well as future directions for research on professional isolation and telework are discussed.

What if delivery riders quit? Challenges to last-mile logistics during the Covid-19 pandemic

Notoriously precarious, hazardous, and stressful, delivery jobs became even more onerous and dangerous during the pandemic. In this study, set in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, we applied Structural Equation Modelling to a large sample of primary data to measure delivery riders' intention to quit their jobs at the height of the pandemic. We found that job burnout was the key trigger to the intention to quit whereas the risk of Covid-19 infection did not directly affect this behavioral intention. Female riders, migrants, persons living with chronic diseases, and those who had seen their income decimated during the pandemic were more likely to want to quit their job. But if a mass of delivery drivers or riders had failed to show up for work, the last-mile delivery sector would have become paralysed, leaving individuals in various states of lockdown or isolation without food and supplies. As the sector is poised to retain its importance in the post-pandemic period, we recommend a number of approaches for both private companies and public policy makers to persuade riders to stay in their jobs. First and foremost, strategies to prevent and mitigate job burnout should be formulated.

Work-from-home is here to stay: Call for flexibility in post-pandemic work policies

In early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced employees in tech companies worldwide to abruptly transition from working in offices to working from their homes. During two years of predominantly working from home, employees and managers alike formed expectations about what post-pandemic working life should look like. Many companies are experimenting with new work policies that balance employee- and manager expectations regarding where, when and how work should be done in the future. In this article, we gather experiences of the new trend of remote working based on the synthesis of 22 company-internal surveys of employee preferences for WFH, and 26 post-pandemic work policies from 17 companies and their sites, covering 12 countries in total. Our results are threefold. First, through the new work policies, all companies formally give employees more flexibility regarding working time and location. Second, there is a great variation in how much flexibility the companies are willing to yield to the employees. The paper details the different formulations that companies adopted to document the extent of permitted WFH, exceptions, relocation permits and the authorisation procedures. Third, we document a change in the psychological contract between employees and managers, where the option of working from home is converted from an exclusive perk that managers could choose to give to the few, to a core privilege that all employees feel they are entitled to. Finally, there are indications that as the companies learn and solicit feedback regarding the efficiency of the chosen strategies, we will see further developments and changes in the work policies concerning how much flexibility to work whenever and from wherever they grant. Through these findings, the paper contributes to a growing literature about the new trends emerging from the pandemic in tech companies and spells out practical implications onwards.

Desire to work from home: Results of an Irish study

Large levels of working from home (WfH) were induced by social distancing and viral control measures undertaken to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic. Representing an unpredicted change in the way large amounts of people undertake their day to day work, it is expected that the legacy of this event, in terms of significant alterations to work and commuting patterns will have wide-ranging and long-lasting results. However, how persistent the current trends will be, remains an open question. Therefore, there is a need for a well-represented study of employees' preferences for the post-pandemic future and focus on white-collar workers and their well-established attitudes considering their flexibility in terms of workplace arrangements. This paper presents the results of a survey undertaken in Ireland in the summer of 2021 gauging the desire of office workers to WfH, the format that most appeals to them, the consideration of home relocation based on the ability to WfH, and the factors that may explain such preferences. Results indicate high levels of desire to WfH, either full time or partially, with increased desire to WfH positively correlated to pre-pandemic commute length, and to a perceived increase in work productivity and quality of non-work life as a result of time spent WfH. Additionally, a number of workers state that they may consider home relocation based upon the ability to WfH. These results should be interpreted as the desire to WfH or total addressable market that exists, rather than the likely levels of WfH that will be observed post-Covid.

Job Motivation, Burnout and Turnover Intention during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are There Differences between Female and Male Workers?

The working conditions during COVID-19 highlight the relevance of workers and their occupational health and well-being. The pandemic has caused adverse effects on workers and sharpened social and economic problems, such as a gender gap. In this study, with a multisector sample of 1044 Ecuadorian workers, we present a gender analysis where we evaluate how burnout can mediate the relationship between motivation and workers' intention to leave their jobs in the COVID-19 context. To test the proposed hypothesis, structural equation model (SEM) was used. In the proposed conceptual model, turnover intention was considered as the dependent variable, the two dimensions of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) were the independent variables and burnout was tested as a mediating variable. Consistent with pre-COVID-19 research, our findings confirm the incidence of job motivation on burnout and turnover intention. Additionally, through Sobel's criteria, we determine that burnout has a mediating effect between job motivation and turnover intention. In terms of gender, we find different results for female and male workers through critical ratios. Our study indicates that female and male workers' burnout and turnover intentions levels are different when intrinsic motivation is present. In contrast to pre-COVID-19 studies that indicated no gender differences on these variables, we associate these results to gender roles in lockdown conditions during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 crisis and telework: a research survey on experiences, expectations and hopes

While a considerable number of employees across the globe are being forced to work from home due to the COVID-19 crisis, it is a guessing game as to how they are experiencing this current surge in telework. Therefore, we examined employee perceptions of telework on various life and career aspects, distinguishing between typical and extended telework during the COVID-19 crisis. To this end, we conducted a state-of-the-art web survey among Flemish employees. Notwithstanding this exceptional time of sudden, obligatory and high-intensity telework, our respondents mainly attribute positive characteristics to telework, such as increased efficiency and a lower risk of burnout. The results also suggest that the overwhelming majority of the surveyed employees believe that telework (85%) and digital conferencing (81%) are here to stay. In contrast, some fear that telework diminishes their promotion opportunities and weakens ties with their colleagues and employer.

The COVID-19 crisis and telework: a research survey on experiences, expectations and hopes

While a considerable number of employees across the globe are being forced to work from home due to the COVID-19 crisis, it is a guessing game as to how they are experiencing this current surge in telework. Therefore, we examined employee perceptions of telework on various life and career aspects, distinguishing between typical and extended telework during the COVID-19 crisis. To this end, we conducted a state-of-the-art web survey among Flemish employees. Notwithstanding this exceptional time of sudden, obligatory and high-intensity telework, our respondents mainly attribute positive characteristics to telework, such as increased efficiency and a lower risk of burnout. The results also suggest that the overwhelming majority of the surveyed employees believe that telework (85%) and digital conferencing (81%) are here to stay. In contrast, some fear that telework diminishes their promotion opportunities and weakens ties with their colleagues and employer.

Health and safety risks faced by delivery riders during the Covid-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVES

Delivery riders have been front-line workers throughout the pandemic but little is known about their own health and safety during this time. This study explores the health and safety issues facing delivery riders in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, during the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular during the second lockdown (May-October 2021).

METHOD

A web-based survey of more than 800 riders was conducted in August-September 2021. Following descriptive statistics, four logit models were fitted to examine the factors associated with (a) sanitizing one's hands, (b) using a face shield, (c) contracting a new health issue, and (d) engaging in riskier traffic behaviors during the lockdown.

RESULTS

The riders who were less consistent in adopting health and safety measures tended to be male, older, less-educated, and vaccinated. Also, they were under greater financial pressure and had suffered a larger loss of income during the pandemic. To recover the loss, they worked longer hours and felt under more intense pressure at work. The job pressure, long working hours, and financial burdens led many drivers to adopt risky traffic behaviors, such as speeding. Conversely, where the companies and co-workers were more supportive, riders tended to adopt health prevention measures more often. Fear of Covid-19 also acted as a facilitator. Job and financial pressure combined with the fear of contracting the virus contributed to the occurrence of new heath issues during the pandemic. Again, support from the company and co-workers helped to reduce the risk of new health problems emerging.

CONCLUSION

In Ho Chi Minh City and other Global South megacities that employ tens of thousands of riders, ensuring their health and safety is important to support both private businesses and public health. Overall, companies should assume a much larger responsibility here.

Teleworking Impact on Wellbeing and Productivity: A Cluster Analysis of the Romanian Graduate Employees

The COVID-19 pandemic has already had an enormous impact on numerous aspects of human society such as health, education, economy, business, or work and created favorable conditions for the expansion of teleworking. The aim of the paper is to identify and analyze five teleworking impact factors that affect thewellbeing and productivity of employees. The data were gathered by a quantitative research method through a questionnaire applied to 327 Romanian employees who hold a Bachelor or Master degree. Firstly, they were analyzed and interpreted through a factorial analysis focusing on the five teleworking impact factors. Secondly, the authors carried on cluster analysis, followed by multiple linear regression, using R statistical software. This study shows that there is a plethora of factors that influence the wellbeing and productivity of employees: individual and societal factors, organizational and work-related factors, technological factors, social factors at home, and social factors at work. Also, the cluster analysis brings to light significant differences between various Romanian employees such as: their gender, income, age, education, and city size.

The emergence of recreational cycling in Hanoi during the Covid-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVES

This study examined recreational cycling in Hanoi, Vietnam, with a particular focus on changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. The research questions were: (1) Has recreational cycling increased during the Covid-19 pandemic?; (2) If so, what factors have led to the increase?; and (3) What are some of the typical traits and behaviors of recreational cyclists?

METHOD

Face-to-face surveys of 356 recreational cyclists were carried out in March-April 2021 in four areas of inner Hanoi. The survey data were modelled through two binary and one ordinal logit regression.

RESULTS

Recreational cycling has become much more popular in Hanoi during the Covid-19 pandemic, with early morning being the preferred time for this activity (to avoid heavy traffic). A quarter of the participants had starting cycling recreationally since the first lockdown in April 2020, and about three quarters reported having noticed an increase in cycling activity around them. Nearly half of the participants cycled regularly (more than four times per week). The groups that were most likely to have taken up cycling for recreations during the pandemic included men, those living with children in the home, and those not working or studying. Age and income were not significant. People have been embracing cycling as a way to maintain or increase physical activity levels, and to safely socialize at the time when social gatherings are limited, walking is prohibited in some zones, and social distancing rules apply everywhere.

CONCLUSION

To sustain the growth in recreational cycling and widen the time-window for this activity while ensuring everyone's safety, Hanoi's planning and public health sectors should join forces to adopt a combination of 'hard' and 'soft' measures. The authors recommend creating multi-use paths for micromobility modes, launching a public bikesharing scheme, regulating motorised modes, and social marketing that promotes recreational cycling as trendy.

Telework and Mental Health during COVID-19

COVID-19 has come to change societal organization. Due to lockdowns, work typologies have been rethought and telework has gained strength. However, the impact of the constant use of information and communication technologies on the mental health of workers needs to be considered. We aimed to investigate the impact of different work conditions on mental health, to which end we disseminated an online questionnaire during lockdowns to assess imagined surveillance, mobile maintenance expectation, communication overload, feelings of entrapment, depression, anxiety, stress, and flourishing in four groups (employed in telework, employed on-site, employed in layoff, and unemployed). We computed mean comparisons and serial mediations. We show that depression and anxiety were more prevalent in women; parents flourished more than people without children; and people with a higher level of education feel more entrapment. Crucially, we show that telework was associated with imagined surveillance and communication overload, which mediated the association with mobile maintenance expectations and entrapment (which was exacerbated by parenthood), impacting mental health and the quality of life. However, this was also partially observed in the remaining work conditions. Finally, flourishing worked as a protector against mental health issues in all work conditions. We discuss this given the massification of digital migration.

Telework benefits and associated health problems during the long COVID-19 era

BACKGROUND

Teleworking became a necessary practice as an alternative to office work during the long COVID-19 era.

OBJECTIVES

To recognize the telework associated benefits and health problems and to assess the relationship between some teleworkers' characteristics, their health problems with job satisfaction and recuperation for promoting telework practices.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among employees working remotely in different work sectors using a questionnaire assessing job satisfaction and recuperation.

RESULTS

Telework benefits included saving time and money (89.3%), minimizing the COVID-19 spread (86.9%), and balancing of work and life (63.4%). Telework associated health problems included musculoskeletal (78.2%), work-related stress (65.9%), and visual problems (47%). Telework job satisfaction was significantly higher among married male workers, working less than 40hs/week, and with previous remote working experience before COVID-19. On the other hand, married female teleworkers working more than 40hs/week and without previous remote working experience before COVID-19 had significantly more perceived fatigue and less recuperation. All teleworkers with reported health problems showed significantly more perceived fatigue and less recuperation.

CONCLUSIONS

More than half of the participants recommended continuing teleworking post-COVID-19 due to its benefits on their working and social life. Telework would enables the employers to adapt and satisfy the teleworkers' expectations to maintain their work and productivity.

Moving toward Sustainability: Rethinking Gender Structures in Education and Occupation Systems

This book comprises a Special Issue in the Sustainability Journal on “Moving toward Sustainability: Rethinking Gender Structures in Education and Occupation Systems [...]

The Breath of the Metropolis: Smart Working and New Urban Geographies

The paper explores the potentialities of telework, a topic with rich literature published since the 1970s, which has become topical again with its forced application related to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. The paper carries out an analysis of the potential territorial impact—transport networks and geographies of living—of telework in the Italian national context. The analysis highlights the potential relevance of the application of telework in certain metropolitan areas that present urban poles where economic sectors with a high propensity for telework are centralised. This survey relates the large stock of tourist housing in the vicinity of large metropolitan areas to a potential demand arising from the change in housing preferences towards more pleasant contexts made possible by the application of telework. In conclusion, this work aims to contribute to the construction of a platform for the Italian context—lagging behind but with recent legislative measures on smart working—aimed at favouring the definition of research lines able to enhance the potential offered by the application of telework for environmental, social, and territorial sustainability objectives, and it also aims to outline possible territorial scenarios for the main metropolitan areas

Why are Hanoi students giving up on bus ridership?

University students are regarded as a readily available market segment for public transport. In Hanoi, as elsewhere, they constitute a large portion of bus passengers. However, one portion has been quitting buses, and the reasons were so far unknown. Nor was it clear whether they planned on retuning. Through a survey of more than 800 students in seven higher education institutions, this study aimed to find the answers to these questions. The study revealed that bus ridership was determined by socio-demographic variables (year of studies, household income, employment status, motorcycle ownership), environmental variables (home-university distance), and psychological variables (convenience, bus staff behaviour, risk of sexual harassment, reliability and health, image and status). A negative disruptor such as the fear of Covid-19 infection had little effect on the decision to continue riding buses. Meanwhile, the prospect of riding 'clean and green' electric buses, which were introduced in a pilot program, was a positive disruptor that may lead a portion of students to return to public transport.

Covid-19 need not spell the death of public transport: Learning from Hanoi's safety measures

OBJECTIVES

In contrast to other cities worldwide, the pandemic has not decimated bus ridership in Hanoi. Notably, the Vietnamese capital has mostly relied on the use of face masks and hand sanitizer during travel, instead of requiring physical distancing on buses. This study examines public bus passengers' levels of compliance with Covid-19 safety measures, and the factors that affect compliance.

METHODS

Face-to-face surveys were administered between 7 September and 3 October 2020, right after the end of the third wave of Covid-19 in Hanoi on 51 bus routes. Exploratory Factor Analysis was carried out to extract factors from attitudinal statements. The extracted factors, passengers' socio-demographic traits, and their bus use patterns were modelled to determine which variables lead to more compliance with Covid-19 safety measures.

RESULTS

We found that 100% of passengers wore face masks (which were mandated), albeit 11% did so incorrectly, while only 28% of passengers used the hand sanitizer provided by bus operators (which was recommended but not required). In addition, 38% of passengers carried their own bottles of hand sanitizer while travelling, despite a relatively low risk of contracting the virus. Women, older passengers, and urbanites were less likely to sanitise their hands. Frequent bus travellers behaved like the population at large with regard to protective measures against Covid-19.

CONCLUSIONS

Hanoi's overall measures - full use of face masks and partial use of hand sanitizer - were sufficient to contain three relatively minor Covid-19 waves while still maintaining regular bus operations most of the time. If other cities were able to reach these levels of compliance, most would be in much better position vis-à-vis public transport use during the pandemic (or an epidemic). Our findings suggest that mandates work much better than awareness raising campaigns, although the latter have a role to play.

Teleworking: A Curse or a Blessing for Gender Equality and Work-Life Balance?

Affordable, reliable and high-quality child and elderly care services are essential for employees to do teleworking in an efficient manner.

The impact of Covid-19 on children's active travel to school in Vietnam

This is among the first studies to provide empirical evidence on active school travel rates and determinants before and after the first Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020. We have collected and analyzed primary survey data on the school travel patterns of 472 school-age children in Hanoi, Vietnam. The findings show that the Covid-19 pandemic has been quite detrimental: once schools reopened, the prevalence of active school travel decreased from 53% to less than 31%. Where parents, especially mothers, did not face barriers to motorized travel, they assumed the role of chauffeur. Parents who were more concerned about community infections were more motivated to shift children to motorized modes. Walking was more affected than cycling because it was seen as more likely to lead to physical contact and virus transmission. Active school travel dropped more steeply in urban districts (as opposed to poorer, non-urban districts) and in those areas where home-school distances were the largest. It appears that the most common perceptions around barriers to active school travel have been exacerbated during the pandemic as parents and children adapt to "the new normal".

Bus Crash Severity in Hanoi, Vietnam

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in targeting the safety of bus operations worldwide; however, little is known about the determinants of the bus crash severity in developing countries. By estimating an ordered logit model using the bus-involved collision data in Hanoi (Vietnam), spanning the period from 2015 to 2019, this study investigates various factors associated with the crash severity. The results reveal that the severity risk increases for (1) large buses, (2) raining conditions, (3) evening or night, (4) sparse traffic, (5) non-urban areas, (6) roads with at least three lanes, (7) curved roads, (8) two-way roads without a physical barrier, (9) head-on collision, and (10) pedestrian-related crashes. Aside from confirming the crucial roles of a wide range of factors, this research has examined the effects of two determinants (traffic density and crash area) that have not been considered for the cases of developing countries previously. Based on the findings on the impacts of factors, a series of policy recommendations regarding improving road conditions in non-urban areas, promoting walking infrastructure, reminders of high-risk situations for drivers, safety notes when improving bus service quality, and recording bus-related crashes are proposed.

Telework, Hybrid Work and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals: Towards Policy Coherence

With increased participation in telework expected to continue, in the aftermath of COVID, it will be important to consider what long-term impact this practice could have on sustainability outcomes. This paper describes a scoping review and identifies connections between telework and sustainability outcomes from previous academic studies. These connections were categorised, and are discussed, based on their contributions to different United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Most research was found to focus on countries classified as having a very high human development index status. The SWOT matrix technique was used to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses identified in the existing literature, and the threats and opportunities for future work. This aims to ensure policy coherence so that strategies to promote one outcome, such as economic productivity improvements, do not undermine another, such as improved health. Practical implications and research opportunities were identified across a range of SDG impact areas, including good health and well-being, gender equality, reduced inequality, climate mitigation, sustainable cities, and resilient communities. Overall, our impression is that increased rates of telework present an important opportunity to improve sustainability outcomes. However, it will be important that integrated and holistic policy is developed that mitigates key risks.

Factors Affecting the Growth of E-Shopping over the COVID-19 Era in Hanoi, Vietnam

In response to insufficient understanding of the determinants of change in e-shopping behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries, this paper used the data from 355 respondents, collected in Hanoi during the social distancing period (April 2020), to explore the factors associated with shopping online more frequently (i.e., representing the growth of e-shopping) for five product types (food, medical products, clothing, electronics, and books) in Hanoi, Vietnam. The results showed that nearly 80% of the respondents engaged in e-shopping more frequently than they did before the outbreak of COVID-19. As regards shopping online more frequently in general (i.e., for at least one product type), females were more likely to do so. In-store shopping enjoyment and a decrease in income were a facilitator and a deterrent, respectively. Regarding specific product types, completely working from home had a positive association with more frequent e-purchasing for electronics. Fear of disease encouraged higher frequencies of e-shopping for food and medical products. Notably, the shortage of physical supply was not a determinant of buying any product type online more frequently. As for the implications of our findings, supporting and encouraging low-income shoppers, older persons, and females to engage in e-shopping is necessary to limit the detrimental effects of the pandemic on their lives. The growth of internet purchasing expresses a need to manage the development of urban delivery services, to limit the uncontrolled proliferation of motorcycles. E-shopping requires delivery to complete the online-to-offline process; therefore, protecting the health of delivery drivers to ensure the safety of the whole online shopping process would be necessary.