An Investigation into the Impact of Remote Working on Employee Well-Being within a Telecommunications Organisation in Ireland

Globalisation ,Economic factors, , changing demographics and the evolvement and advancement of technology has all contributed to the changing nature of work in today’s era. As a direct result there we have seen the creation of new forms of flexible working arrangements including “remote working”. Remote working has become a relevant topic today due to the onset of the current Covid 19 pandemic. With government advice the current pandemic has seen a large number of white-collar workers remote workers into new territory of remote workers as employers aim to safeguard their employees from contracting the virus and adhere to government guidance. Current research on the area of remote working impaction on well-being is scarce. Questionable also is if prior literature is current as prior to the current Covid-19 pandemic. With a increasing number of those now remote working it provides the ideal opportunity to conduct new and relevant research on the area. A study conducted by Crawford et al, (2011) highlights the gap in the research on remote working an well-being. Within this research the researcher will aim to investigate this gap by collecting and analysing data on remote workers and its implications on well-being from three key perspectives - psychological. social and physical aspect. A qualitative approach was applied through semi structured interviews to gather data. Twelve participants were interviewed from the HR department of a Telecommunications organisation who all had prior experience working remotely prior to Covid 19 on a part time basis however has become a permanent structure for them since March 2020. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic the research applied semi-structure interviews and allowed for a more in-dept understanding of remote workers experiences in relation to their well -being. Interviews was conducted through Microsoft themes recorded and transcribed. The research for the purpose of this study applied thematic analysis to identify common five common themes. Conclusion where highlighted drawn on both negative and positive and negative experiences of remote working and impact on well-being. The limitations of this study that interviews were unable to be conducted face to face and within the same organisation due to the current Covid 19 pandemic. Due to the unpresented times questionable if this study will be reflective of the situation in a couple of years