Organizational climate, opportunities, challences and psychological wellbeing of remote working emplyees during covid 19

© IAEME Publication iew ed International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET) Volume 11, Issue 4, April 2020, pp 372-389, Article ID: IJARET_11_04_037 Available online athttp://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/issues.asp?JType=IJARET&VType=11&IType=4 ISSN Print: 0976-6480 and ISSN Online: 0976-6499 Scopus Indexed pe er re v ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE, OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING OF THE REMOTE WORKING EMPLOYEES DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A GENERAL LINEAR MODEL APPROACH WITH REFERENCE TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY IN HYDERABAD Dr KDV Prasad International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Telangana, India ot Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi Karvy Stock Broking Limited, Financial District, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, India rin tn Dr Rajesh W Vaidya Assistant Professor, Faculty In-charge Training and Placement, (DMT) Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering & Management, Nagpur, India Budumuru Muralidhar International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Telangana, India Pr ep ABSTRACT In this empirical study we are presenting the results of our survey research on remote working by employees of IT and E-Commerce industry employees during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic with reference to Hyderabad Metro An empirical survey was carried out during the lockdown period, 25 March 2020 - 20 April 2020 using research survey instrument, an undisguised questionnaire The eight independent factors Team work, Communication, Peer, Job related factors, Organization Policies, Organization Climate, Job Satisfaction, Psychological factors dependent factor psychological wellbeing of the employees The Psychological wellbeing was measured using the modified and shortened version of 18-item version scale of Ryff and Keyes using six factors - Self-acceptance, Personal growth, Purpose in life, Environmental mastery, Autonomy and Positive relations with others The survey instrument validity http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 372 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad and reliability was assessed using Cronbach alpha (overall C-alpha measured at 0.92) for all the items and Split-Half (odd-even) Correlation 0.82 whereas Split-Half with Spearman-Brown Adjustment at 0.94 The results from the General Linear Model Multivariate analysis indicate Communication, Organization climate, Organization Policies, Job Satisfaction and Psychological factors significantly influencing the psychological wellbeing of employees in information technology sector during the survey period of Covid-19 pandemic Keywords: COVID-19, psychological wellbeing, Cronbach alpha, Remote working, Autonomy pe er re v Cite this Article: Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar, Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad, International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET), 11(4), 2020, pp 372-389 http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/issues.asp?JType=IJARET&VType=11&IType=4 INTRODUCTION Pr ep rin tn ot The recent Covid-19 outbreak changed working landscape to a great extent The institutions and organizations of both public and private sector should reflect on their learnings from employees working remotely and its arrangements The institutions and the organizations to give more liberty to the employees to adjust their working schedules to suit to their well-being It is not only for the employee, individually, but to every organization and the society, and the world as a whole to get tuned to this new situation The working class slowly emerges and tries to adjust and deliver its best as responsible members of a natural ecosystem Every human resource within a working landscape attempts to balance his/her own needs with the needs of the environment The work from home has become a buzz phrase, in particular with the Information Technology (IT) and the IT enabled Sector, mainly to ensure engaging the workforce, to reach out to the internal and the external stakeholders, to retain the talent and maintain attrition rate to its low on one hand The situation throws down challenges for many of the people to either up-skilling or re-skilling on a war-foot basis without giving any time, else they may become vulnerable to the exercise of trimming the team size by the companies Remote working has become an essential work-practice It saves the commuting time, the overheads and the resources associated with physical office management The work practice in all the sectors, where the productivity, services and solutions can be managed without the necessity of being physically present, such as information technology, pharma, healthcare, research and development, eCommerce, etc., However, it is not possible to manage the workforce belong to unskilled and unorganized sector, which constitute a considerable number of total workforce As far as information technology sector is concerned, they are finding the ways and means to figure out the activities that can be accomplished remotely using latest communication technologies like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, bluejeans, Webex, Hangouts etc Several organizations irrespective of the sector convenes virtual meetings/conferences/ workshops/seminars via the above mentioned communication tools It is expected that some of the people would suffer from post-pandemic stress and some of the people might realize their inner strengths and display a great amount of gratitude with what they have This would mean the employees would go through a lot of emotional journey, and their psychological well-being http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 373 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar iew ed would have its own impacts, which will be revealed, studied and understood only by undertaking another research post-pandemic and compare the situation 1.1 What is Remote Work? rin tn ot pe er re v Remote work is a working practice that encourages professionals to work beyond the conventional office setting This is based on the idea that there is no need for work to be performed in a particular location When compared of commuting to workplace every day and work from a fixed desk, remotely working by the people carrying out their activities and tasks, and achieve their goals anywhere they opt yields much more productivity The employees have reasonable control to plan their days to see that their professional and personal lives can be existed to their fullest potential and satisfaction and coexist peacefully (Remote year, 2020) This is a conceptual shift and remote work has capitalized on that independence The beauty of remote work is the fact that an employee can choose to work in a way that makes work-life balance perfect However, some employees need to visit to the office monthly/fortnight to have face to face peer meetings with an opportunity to work remotely for the majority of the working week, but have to commute to in-person meetings at the office one day a week Another concept co working spaces and sharing economies are on rise where an organization or an employee The co working spaces are hubs of productivity, community, and technology, offering great scope for network connectivity to get the work done The co working spaces fall between full traditional workplace and remote work or work from home The benefits and advantages of remote work increase productivity, work-life balance, saving the commuting time and office resources, and provide more flexible lifestyle This helps women to overcome genetic/gynecology challenges so she can attend the office tasks at her comfort An employee also could pursue his/her long standing hobbies, professional pursuits etc., which could not be fulfilled due to time constraints or due to lack of freedom at workplace to pursue them Remote employees are less stressed compared to in-office counter parts with decreased absenteeism and better health and well ness (Royal Society for Public Health in the UK, 2014, PGi 2014) It was also observed a renewed passion for their with motivation in the employees working remotely As part of benefits to the employer higher productivity as the employee puts more effort, increased cost savings as the decrease in office rent, infrastructure and maintenance costs, and higher employee engagement One study report that the employees are ready to quit the present job one that offer remote working (in a survey by TINYpulse) REVIEW OF LITERATURE Pr ep A remote employee who is hired by a company but operates beyond the conventional office environment-working from a nearby coworking room, from home, in any city around the globe This idea requires a lot of consideration about a competent, working style employee with a meaningful discussion with the boss Employees can create a remote work case to get peer acceptance (Remote work 2020) Several remote work challenges like different time zones, over working, bead health habits, distractions in the home, The world has turned into remote working or work from home concept wherever possible due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) an infectious disease caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) a mutated virus which is less virulent in India The disease was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and spread globally, resulting into pandemic The availability of tools like team viewer, splashtop, Microsoft remote desktop, zoom, Microsoft teams, and owl are some of the communication tools essential for remote working, work prioritization are reported and solutions were provide by (Melanie http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 374 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad rin tn ot pe er re v Pinola, 2020.) The SCIKEY MindMatch stud reported that 99.8% workforce in IT sector incapable of remote working as reported in Economic Times Felstead and Henseke (2017) critically assessed the win-win situation when more and more work is being detached from place for both employers and employees The results were reported analyzing labour market data, based on the factors knowledge economy, the growth in flexible employment and organizational responses Daniel Wheatley (2017) reported the positive impact of of flexible working arrangements (FWAs), and positive effects for men and women on job satisfaction using the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, 2001–10/11 Standy Stples (2001) reported the differences remote working employees and non-remote workers, and mentioned that Interpersonal trust of the employee in the peer is strongly associated with higher selfperceptions of performance, higher job satisfaction and lower job stress and weak support of physical connectivity and its impact (i e., the availability of IT) on job satisfaction, supporting the enabling role of IT The remote workers and peer of higher level of interpersonal trust due to frequent communications The remote working can improve employee improve employee productivity, creativity and morale when it right done and perfectly planned Zara Greenbaum (2019) Kristen Senz 2019 reported the benefits of the remote working to the companies the gain could add $1.3 billion in each year Based on a patent's average value, this productivity gain could add $1.3 billion of value to the US economy in an year based on the patent average Adam Hickman and Jennifer Robison (2020) reported from Gallup Research data that remote work improves business outcomes, attracts talent and an engaged workforce has the best financial outcomes Hickman A reported the how the workplace isolation will influence a remote worker because of lack of management acumen, organizational expertise, to development implement strategies on remote work policies and procedures Based on the above literature survey the following research gap is identified What are the common understandings about how workplace isolation may influence a remote employee’s performance in a customer service organization in the United States?the Social Exchange Theory (Emerson 1976), which is dependent on mutually agreement and gratifying among both the sides involving communication is the basis of this theory Emerson’s (1976) theory, explains that a social exchange is needed among remote workers and their employer to preserve a remote employee from experiencing workplace isolation This conceptual framework is essential for employee psychological wellbeing and remote worker experience stress because the absence of social exchange with in-office worker) The free access to technology, peers, and more free communication can avoid the risk of remote working challenges (Greer and Payne, 2014) Therefore, psychological wellbeing of a remote worker depends human interaction, a social aspect and missing elements remote working Therefore, the outcome variable psychological wellbeing also included ep RESEARCH QUESTION Pr There is any correlation between the organisational and individual factors psychological wellbeing of remote working employees during Covid19-Pandemic? Is there are any challenges and opportunities of the employees working remotely and psychological well-being during Covid-19 lockdown? 4.1 Research Gap The Government of Indian announced a three-week lock during 24 March to 14 April and extended till May 2020 The idea behind the lock down is to contain the spread of the virus http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 375 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar iew ed maintaining social distance among the human beings Therefore, several organisations decided wherever possible, that their employees will be allowed to work remotely The remote working options was followed almost all sectors of employees As the Covid-19 Pandemic was reported during December 2019, there no specific research articles, reviews of reports available in particular, related to remote working during Covid-19 or any similar situation in the past Further, there is not a single article reported on the psychological wellbeing of the remote working employees during any pandemic time in the past Therefore, the authors considered to carry out this study surveying the remote working employees during March 24 to 20 April 2020 and reported the results RESEARCH METHODOLOGY rin tn ot pe er re v Theoretical Framework: The author followed the modified version of the model proposed by Anderson et al (2015) with challenges and opportunities as predictors of the Psychological wellbeing of Remote worker ep Figure This diagram depicts how an employee is subjected to his/her well-being and the factors that affect the ecosystem within and outside the organization Hypotheses Pr After reviewing the research an identifying the problem the following hypotheses were framed Ho1: Employee individual, organisational, and external factors significantly influence the psychological well-being of an employee during Covid-19 Pandemic H11: Employee individual, organisational, and external factors does not significantly influence the psychological well-being of an employee during Covid-19 Pandemic http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 376 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad pe er re v H02: There are significant gender and age differences on factors effecting the psychological wellbeing of the employees in IT sector H12: There are no significant gender and age differences on factors effecting the psychological wellbeing of the employees in IT sector Estimation of sample size: As the population size is unknown the researchers used Cochran (1977) formula to estimate the sample size for this empirical study Cochran (1977) developed a formula to calculate a representative sample for proportion as z2pq no= -e2 where no is the sample size, z is the selected critical value of desired confidence level, p is the estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population, q p and e is the desired level of precision and this formula was used as IT sector where population is unknown assuming the maximum variability which is equal to 50% (p=0.5) and taking 95% confidence level with ±5% precision, the required sample size is p = 0.5 and hence q = 1-0.5 = 0.5; e = 0.05 and z = 1.96 (1.96)2(0.5)(0.5) no = = 384.16 = 384 (0.05)2 Therefore, we have chosen a sample size of > 384 i.e 400 The sample demography and description are presented in Tables and and the study variables both dependent and independent are presented in Table ot Table Demography of the sample rin tn Gender Men Women Total Source: Primary data Frequency 228 172 400 Percent 57 43 100 Table Sample description ep Age group 20-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 Source: Primary data Number of respondents 160 100 80 60 Table Independent factors that measured dependent factor psychological wellbeing Description No items 5 Team Work Communication Peer Job related factors Organization Policies Organization climate Pr Factor http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 377 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar pe er re v iew ed Factor Description No items Job Satisfaction Psychological factors Dependent factors - psychological wellbeing Factor Description No items Environment Mastery Positive Growth 3 Positive Relations Self-Acceptance Autonomy Purpose of Life Based on shortened version psychological wellbeing scale Ryff and Keyes (1995) RESEARCH INSTRUMENT Pr ep rin tn ot Measurement of internal, external, and organization factors: A standardized, undisguised research instrument based on five point Likert Type scale, with rating scale of Strongly agree =5; Agree = 4; Neutral =3; Disagree =2; Strongly disagree were used to measured Team work, Peer, Organizational climate, Organizational policies, Job related factors Communication, Job satisfaction and Psychological factors following the model of Prasad et al (206, 2017, 2018) The total items measured are 37 Measurement of psychological wellbeing based factors: A shortened version of 18-point scaler developed by Ryff and Keyes (1995) was used This is a 7-point rating scale with Strongly agree = 7, Somewhat agree = 6, A little agree = 5, Neither agree nor disagree = 4, A little disagree = 3, Somewhat disagree = 2, Strongly disagree =1 and the factors measured are Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive Relations, Purpose in Life and the Self-Acceptance with items for each factors There are some items worded in the opposite way on measurement scale Reverse-scored measured using the following method ((Number of points on the scale) + 1) - (Answer from the respondent) For example, if Question is a 7-point scale and the respondent answered on Question 1, the recoded answer was: (7 + 1) - = 5, therefore was entered for this response As we have used to types of Likert scales one with point and other with 7-point scale For easy analysis we have transformed the two Likert scales used into one 5-point common scale of Likert type The linear transformation procedure was used to convert the point scale to a 5-point scale In the 7-point liker type scale minimum is and maximum is and using a two stage calculation 1) first finding linear transformation to make the new scale as minimum and as maximum, and following this method transformation was made to make 7-point scale to a five-point scale using the following formula X = (x - a) / (b - a) Just substitute a for x to make the result as 0, and then substitute b for x to see that the result is This will be continued in the stage two using new minimum to be A and the new maximum to be B The transformation will be: Y = (B - A) * X + A Substitute for X to see that the result is A, and for X to see that the result is B Combining all whole first transformation in place of X in the second: Y = (B - A) * (x - a) / (b - a) + A http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 378 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad For converting 7-point scale to be converted to a 5-point scale Since the minimum of the 7-point scale is 1, we have a=1, b=7 in the first transformation Similarly, for the second transformation, we have A=1, B=5 Putting them together we get: DATA ANALYSIS pe er re v x1 x2 1.0 Strongly agree 2.5 (average of 2+3) = somewhat agree and A little agree 4.0 Neither Agree and Nor disagree 5.5 Somewhat disagree and A little disagree 7.0 Strongly disagree In particular, notice that is sent to 1, and to We have applied statistical techniques that suits for the study to draw the inferences and conclusions from primary data We used descriptive statistics, standard deviation and dispersion methods Psychological wellbeing was categorized as low, medium and high level All the data analysis was carried out using statistical package for social sciences ver 26 7.1 Reliability Methods The internal consistency, reliability of the questionnaire was measured estimating Cronbach alpha values, Split-Half (odd-even) Correlation, Split-Half with Spearman-Brown Adjustment The values in the Table indicate the survey instrument is reliable and consistent Table Independent and dependent factors of the study C-alpha Split-Half (odd-even) Correlation 0.66 0.44 0.70 0.63 0.78 0.63 0.66 0.59 0.81 0.67 0.75 0.51 0.85 0.75 0.81 0.63 Psychological wellbeing (Dependent factors) Description Environment Mastery Personal Growth Positive Relations Self-Acceptance Autonomy Purpose of Life Overall-Psychological Wellbeing Overall-Independent Factors 0.80 0.73 0.87 0.81 0.85 0.80 0.96 0.92 0.58 0.54 0.66 0.71 0.63 0.64 0.92 0.88 Split-Half with Spearman-Brown Adjustment 0.61 0.77 0.77 0.74 0.80 0.67 0.86 0.77 0.73 0.70 0.79 0.83 0.77 0.78 0.96 0.94 Pr ep Factor 0.78 Team Work Communication Peer Job related factors Organization Policies Organization climate Job Satisfaction Psychological factors rin tn Description ot Factor Overall C-alpha :0.93 http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 379 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar iew ed RESULTS pe er re v General Linear Model (GLM) Multivariate analysis: In our empirical study the dependent variable psychological wellbeing an outcome variable is measured with six subscales, Environment Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive Relations Self-Acceptance, Autonomy and Purpose of Life against independent variables Team Work Communication, Peer, Job related factors, Organization Policies, Organization climate, Job Satisfaction, Psychological factors that effecting the psychological wellbeing of the employees in Information Technology Sector The General Liner Model multivariate analysis was carried as we are interested to measure effect of independent variable on each of the psychological wellbeing factors as described earlier In GLM model more than one dependent variable can be predicted using independent variables, and we also studied to observe if there are any significant age group and gender differences that effect the psychological wellbeing of the employees The detailed results are presented below Test of Homogeneity of Variances Table Box's Test of Equality of Covariance Matricea ot Box's M 44.771 F 2.056 df1 21 df2 97921.377 Sig 0.290 a Tests the null hypothesis that the observed covariance matrices of the dependent variables are equal across groups a Design: Intercept + Team Work + Communication + Peer + Job Related + Organisation Policy + Organization Climate + Psychological + Job Satisfaction + Gender rin tn The null hypothesis for this test is that the observed covariance matrices for the dependent variables are equal across groups As the result for the test is non-significant test result (i.e one with a large p-value) indicates that the covariance matrices are equal (Table 5) We have used the Bartlett's test (Snedecor and Cochran, 1989) to test all the samples have equal homogeneity of variances to carry out the GLM analysis The results indicate Bartlett’s test of Sphericity significant (0.00) indicates the matrices for all the three variables are not identity matrix (Table 6), so the null hypothesis is rejected The data generated through the responses are fit for carrying our further analysis Table KMO and Bartlett's Test statistic of independent factors Pr ep Bartlett’s test pf Sphericitya Likelihood Ratio 0.000 Approx Chi-Square 875.923 Df 20 Sig 0.000 Tests the null hypothesis that the residual covariance matrix is proportional to an identity matrix a Design: Intercept + Team Work + Communication + Peer + Job Related + organization Policy + Organization Climate + Psychological + Job Satisfaction + Gender http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 380 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad The homogeneity of variance in the same is measured using Leven’s test of equality of error variances The significance of Levene's test is > 0.05, which suggests that the equal variances assumption is not violated (Table 7) Table Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variancesa pe er re v F df1 df2 Sig Environment Mastery 1.424 380 0.234 Personal Growth 0.261 380 0.610 Autonomy 0.602 380 0.439 Self-Acceptance 0.564 380 0.453 Purpose Of Life 0.382 380 0.537 Positive Relations 0.417 380 0.519 Tests the null hypothesis that the error variance of the dependent variable is equal across groups a Design: Intercept + Team Work + Communication + Peer + Job Related + Organisation Policy + Organization Climate + Psychological + Job Satisfaction + Gender Table General Linear Model: Multivariate testsa Effect Intercept F Hypothesis df Error df Sig Pillai's Trace Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace 0.128 0.872 0.146 4.295b 4.295b 4.295b 6.000 6.000 6.000 375.000 375.000 375.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Partial Eta Squared 0.128 0.128 0.128 0.146 4.295b 6.000 375.000 0.000 0.128 0.024 0.976 0.024 715b 715b 715b 6.000 6.000 6.000 375.000 375.000 375.000 0.638 0.638 0.638 0.024 0.024 0.024 0.024 715b 6.000 375.000 0.638 0.024 0.077 0.923 0.083 2.449b 2.449b 2.449b 6.000 6.000 6.000 375.000 375.000 375.000 0.027 0.027 0.027 0.077 0.077 0.077 0.083 2.449b 6.000 375.000 0.027 0.077 0.057 0.943 0.060 1.764b 1.764b 1.764b 6.000 6.000 6.000 375.000 375.000 375.000 0.109 0.109 0.109 0.057 0.057 0.057 0.060 1.764b 6.000 375.000 0.109 0.057 0.020 0.980 0.020 596b 596b 596b 6.000 6.000 6.000 375.000 375.000 375.000 0.733 0.733 0.733 0.020 0.020 0.020 0.020 596b 6.000 375.000 0.733 0.020 0.097 3.141b 6.000 375.000 0.006 0.097 Wilks' Lambda 0.903 3.141b 6.000 375.000 0.006 0.097 rin tn ot Team Work Value Communication Peer ep Pr Job Related Organisation Policy http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 381 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar Psychological factors Job Satisfaction F Hypothesis df Error df Sig Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace 0.107 3.141b 6.000 375.000 0.006 Partial Eta Squared 0.097 0.107 3.141b 6.000 375.000 0.006 0.097 0.086 2.755b 6.000 375.000 0.014 0.086 Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace 0.914 0.094 2.755b 2.755b 6.000 6.000 375.000 375.000 0.014 0.014 0.086 0.086 0.094 2.755b 6.000 375.000 0.014 0.086 0.069 2.170b 6.000 375.000 0.048 0.069 Wilks' Lambda Hotelling's Trace Roy's Largest Root Pillai's Trace 0.931 0.074 2.170b 2.170b 6.000 6.000 375.000 375.000 0.048 0.048 0.069 0.069 0.074 2.170b 6.000 375.000 0.048 0.069 0.166 5.826b 6.000 375.000 0.000 0.166 iew ed Organization Climate Value pe er re v Effect ot Wilks' Lambda 0.834 5.826b 6.000 375.000 0.000 0.166 Hotelling's 0.199 5.826b 6.000 375.000 0.000 0.166 Trace Roy's Largest 0.199 5.826b 6.000 375.000 0.000 0.166 Root Gender Pillai's Trace 0.019 581b 6.000 375.000 0.745 0.019 Wilks' Lambda 0.981 581b 6.000 375.000 0.745 0.019 Hotelling's 0.020 581b 6.000 375.000 0.745 0.019 Trace Roy's Largest 0.020 581b 6.000 375.000 0.745 0.019 Root a Design: Intercept + Team Work + Communication + Peer + Job Related + Organisation Policy + Organization Climate + Psychological + Job Satisfaction + Gender b Exact statistic; c Computed using alpha = 05 Pr ep rin tn From the results of multivariate test it is evident that the independent factors Team work, Job Related Factors and Peer not significantly contributing to psychological wellbeing of the employees The other five independent variables Communication Wilks λ=0.903, (F6, 176)=3.141, p=0.027, η2=0.077; Organisational Policies λ=0.923, (F6, 176)=2.449, p=0.006, η2=0.097 Organisation Climate λ=0.914, (F6, 176)=2.755, p=0.014, η2=0.086 Job satisfaction λ=0.834, (F6, 176)=5.826, p=0.005, η2=0.166 and Psychological Factors λ=0.931, (F6, 176)=2.170, p=0.005 η2=0.019 are influencing the psychological wellbeing of the employees (Table 8) A separate ANOVA was run for each dependent variable and with each independent factor and the results are: The team work is not significantly influencing the psychological wellbeing Communication is influencing only the factor personal growth Personal Growth F(1, 181)= 4.735, p=0.031 η2=0.025; Peer = F(1, 181) = 6.408, p =0.012; η2=0.034; Organization policies and organization climate are influencing all dependent factors except personal growth; psychological factors are influencing all the psychological wellbeing factors, and so on As the results in Table No Test of Between-subjects effects it is evident that statistically significant gender differences were observed and influencing the psychological wellbeing of employees (Table 9) http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 382 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad Table General Linear Model: Tests of Between-Subjects Effects df Mean Square 9 9 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4.877 5.430 6.054 4.933 5.094 4.450 13.246 10.945 8.797 10.351 7.859 12.079 0.252 0.394 0.000 0.304 0.833 0.030 0.105 2.824 0.011 0.528 0.007 0.698 1.994 0.859 4.640 2.494 2.603 5.398 0.294 0.073 0.015 0.093 0.149 0.511 6.093 7.026 4.498 1.265 3.386 5.119 6.401 1 1 1 8.318 3.830 3.239 4.275 5.957 0.021 1 1 1 Pr ep rin tn ot Corrected Model Environment Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Intercept Environment Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Team Work Environment Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Communication Environment Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Peer Environment Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Job Related Environment Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Organisation Environment Mastery Policy Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Organization Environment Mastery Climate Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Psychological Environment Mastery Type III Sum of Squares 43.889a 48.868b 54.483c 44.397d 45.845e 40.046f 13.246 10.945 8.797 10.351 7.859 12.079 0.252 0.394 0.000 0.304 0.833 0.030 0.105 2.824 0.011 0.528 0.007 0.698 1.994 0.859 4.640 2.494 2.603 5.398 0.294 0.073 0.015 0.093 0.149 0.511 6.093 F Sig Partial Eta Squared 7.542 9.104 8.360 6.928 7.076 6.324 20.485 18.351 12.149 14.537 10.917 17.167 0.389 0.660 0.000 0.427 1.157 0.042 0.162 4.735 0.016 0.742 0.010 0.992 3.084 1.441 6.408 3.502 3.616 7.672 0.454 0.122 0.020 0.131 0.207 0.726 9.422 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.534 0.418 0.989 0.514 0.284 0.838 0.687 0.031 0.901 0.390 0.921 0.321 0.081 0.232 0.012 0.063 0.059 0.006 0.501 0.728 0.888 0.718 0.650 0.395 0.002 0.273 0.312 0.294 0.256 0.260 0.239 0.102 0.092 0.063 0.074 0.057 0.087 0.002 0.004 0.000 0.002 0.006 0.000 0.001 0.025 0.000 0.004 0.000 0.005 0.017 0.008 0.034 0.019 0.020 0.041 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.004 0.049 7.026 4.498 1.265 3.386 5.119 6.401 11.780 6.211 1.777 4.703 7.275 9.899 0.001 0.014 0.184 0.031 0.008 0.002 0.061 0.033 0.010 0.025 0.039 0.052 8.318 3.830 3.239 4.275 5.957 0.021 13.946 5.289 4.549 5.939 8.466 0.032 0.000 0.023 0.034 0.016 0.004 0.858 0.072 0.028 0.025 0.032 0.045 0.000 pe er re v Source http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 383 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar 0.515 3.392 1.061 0.837 0.235 5.551 1.484 16.539 13.515 9.410 2.226 0.228 0.207 0.108 0.001 0.154 0.703 0.647 0.596 0.724 0.712 0.720 0.704 0.864 4.685 1.490 1.163 0.333 8.584 2.488 22.842 18.981 13.071 3.164 0.353 0.348 0.150 0.001 0.213 0.999 0.005 0.025 0.008 0.006 0.002 0.045 0.014 0.112 0.095 0.067 0.017 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.000 0.001 0.005 rin tn ot 0.354 0.032 0.224 0.282 0.564 0.004 0.116 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.077 0.553 0.556 0.699 0.976 0.645 0.319 iew ed 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 380 380 380 380 380 380 390 390 390 390 390 390 389 389 389 389 389 389 pe er re v Personal Growth 0.515 Autonomy 3.392 Self-Acceptance 1.061 Purpose of Life 0.837 Positive Relations 0.235 Job Satisfaction Environment Mastery 5.551 Personal Growth 1.484 Autonomy 16.539 Self-Acceptance 13.515 Purpose of Life 9.410 Positive Relations 2.226 Gender Environment Mastery 0.228 Personal Growth 0.207 Autonomy 0.108 Self-Acceptance 0.001 Purpose of Life 0.154 Positive Relations 0.703 Error Environment Mastery 117.037 Personal Growth 107.954 Autonomy 131.058 Self-Acceptance 128.880 Purpose of Life 130.308 Positive Relations 127.358 Total Environment Mastery 2539.321 Personal Growth 2805.979 Autonomy 2521.799 Self-Acceptance 2530.552 Purpose of Life 2535.778 Positive Relations 2564.665 Corrected Total Environment Mastery 160.926 Personal Growth 156.823 Autonomy 185.541 Self-Acceptance 173.277 Purpose of Life 176.152 Positive Relations 167.404 a R Squared = 273 (Adjusted R Squared = 237) b R Squared = 312 (Adjusted R Squared = 277) c R Squared = 294 (Adjusted R Squared = 259) d R Squared = 256 (Adjusted R Squared = 219) e R Squared = 260 (Adjusted R Squared = 223) f R Squared = 239 (Adjusted R Squared = 201) g Computed using alpha = 05 Pr ep The results of separate ANOVA for each psychological wellbeing factors against each independent variable are presented in Table 10 The factor Team Work is not statistically significant on influencing the psychological wellbeing of an employee, whereas organization climate is statistically significant and influencing all the six factors of psychological wellbeing Likewise Organization policies are influencing all the five factors of psychological wellbeing except Self-Acceptance, and so on There were no significant gender differences were observed on the results are not statistically significant and the gender is not the predictor of psychological wellbeing http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 384 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad Table 10 Results of ANOVA for all the independent factors against dependent factors (psychological wellbeing)a Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life ANOA results Not significant No significant gender differences F(1, 380)=4.735, p=0.031, η2 =0.025 F(1, 380)=6.408, p=0.012, η2=0.034 F(1, 380)=5.398, p=0.006, η2=0.004 F(1, 380)=0.454, p=0.050, η2=0.003 F(1, 380)=9.422, p=0.002, η2=0.049 F(1, 380)=11.780, p=0.001, η2=0.061 F(1, 380)=6.211, p=0.014, η2=0.033 F(1, 380)=4.703, p=0.037, η2=0.025 F(1, 380)=7.275, p=0.008, η2=0.039 F(1,380)=9.899, p=0.002, η2= 0.052 pe er re v Independent factor Dependent factor Team Work Gender Communication Personal Growth Peer Autonomy Positive Relations Job related Environment Mastery Organization Policies Environment Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Purpose of Life Positive Relations Organization Climate Environment Mastery F(1,380)=5.289, p=0.023, η2= 0.028 F(1,380)=13.946, p=0.000, η2=0.072 F(1, 380)=4.549, p=0.034, η2=0.025 F(1,380)=5.939, p=0.016, η2=0.032 Positive Relations F(1,380)=8.466, p=0.004, η2=0.045 Psychological factors Autonomy F(1, 380)=4.685, 0.032, η2=0.025 Job Satisfaction Environment Mastery F(1, 380)=8.584, 0.004, η2=0.045 Autonomy F(1, 380)=22.842, 0.00, η2=0.112 Purpose of Life F(1, 380)=13.0712, 0.000, η2=0.67 a Note: Only significant results are presented from General Linear Model: Tests of Between-Subjects Effects ot The Age Group is not statistically significant in influencing the psychological wellbeing of the employees (Table 11) Table 11 Effect of Age Group on psychological wellbeing of the employees factor rin tn Source Gender * Age Environment Group Mastery Personal Growth Autonomy Self-Acceptance Purpose of Life Positive Relations Type III Sum of Squares 4.449 df Mean Square F Sig Partial Eta Squared 1.483 2.328 0.076 0.038 2.937 5.266 4.332 4.170 1.021 3 3 0.979 1.755 1.444 1.390 0.340 1.637 2.454 2.046 1.932 0.474 0.182 0.065 0.109 0.126 0.701 0.027 0.040 0.034 0.032 0.008 Pr ep Therefore, we partially accept the null hypothesis Ho1: Employee individual, organisational, and external factors significantly influence the psychological well-being of an employee during Covid-19 Pandemic and accept the alternate hypothesis H12: There are no significant gender and age dfferences on factors effecting the psychological wellbeing of the employees in IT sector DISCUSSION We have carried out this study to measure the psychological wellbeing of the information technology employees during the lockdown period (24 March – 24 April 2020) applying a http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 385 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 Dr KDV Prasad, Dr Mruthyanjaya Rao Mangipudi, Dr Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar pe er re v iew ed survey questionnaire on the remote working employees There are several literature is available in general on remote work and its effects, however we have not found any single research study on remote work and how it will effect employees psychological wellbeing during any pandemic type of situations We believe this is the first such type of study and to make the study more comprehensive we have measured how the eight independent factors are effecting the every factory of psychological wellbeing Though, there is no research available using GLM Multivariate model our results in line with the similar studies carried out by Gu et al (2019) and psychosomatic wellbeing among Chinese nurses; Adam Steptoe et al (2015) psychological wellbeing and ageing; and Brim et al (2019) How healthy are we We have used several reliability methods like Cronbach alpha, Split-Half (odd-even) Correlation and Split-Half with Spearman-Brown Adjustment to make the research instrument more consistent and reliable We have used a shortened version of psychological wellbeing scale with 18 items with factors developed by Ryff and Keyes (1995) The point scale was converted to a point Likert type scale using linear transformation procedures for easy data analysis and interpretations We have identified the following challenges generally a remote employee can experience which need to be mitigated by suitably modifying organizational policies so employee can work with minimum disturbance during pandemic period On the positive part of the side there are several opportunities for the employer, elaborated as under Communication • Remote workers will have communication problems because of internet glitches, employee may be able to divulge his ideas/feeling to the peer in group communication, and are not part of the routine person to person meetings, so the delay in communicating of decisions • Workplace isolation is another problem for the older employees who are not technology savvy • Fear of 24/7 reporting and burnout • Some peers believe that they should work full 40 hrs for week however for in-office employee the times includes the 2-Tea/Coffee and lunch break There is a chance of employee burnout for unnecessary policing The organization can overcome this problem through time logins and allied mechanisms • Employee really don’t work • There is a misconception that actually employee doesn’t work to his/her full potential, and will work only to the targeted tasks which are important and other time the employee will relax Though the quantification of a service and intangible benefit is difficult the managers should find a way out overcome this misconception • Another challenge is some jobs can be worked remotely with frequent physical presence in traditional office The organizations should develop a policy document so to define which job can be done remotely working at home and which tasks need employee presence • Working too much • Prioritizing work • Interruptions Pr ep rin tn ot • http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 386 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 • Lack of human interaction and loneliness • Different working zones • Bad health habits Opportunities iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad Saving communication time • Saving in office costs • Social support • Flexible working hours • Must complete the job • Minimal supervision which increases the decision making knowledge of an employee • No workplace group politics 10 CONCLUSIONS pe er re v • ot Authors propose to carry out the similar type of study in other sectors in particular health and banking sector A study on occupational stress causing during the pandemic period will be immensely beneficial for the organisations to modify the strategies and decide future course of action Another area of important is agricultural sector, in particular seed industry which is the backbone of our country The behavioral changes of employees need to be studied with appropriate survey instrument The survey instrument i.e survey questionnaire is available at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdrdUb2lt1oxw0kj3zMAX62_0C1gVbEsQQ gRQl-skmKX6e2Ug/viewform ACKMNOWLEDGMENT rin tn We thank all respondents who took out their valuable time responded to our questionnaire REFERENCES [1] [2] Anderson, A J., Kaplan, S A., & Vega, R P (2015) The impact of telework on emotional experience: When, and for whom, does telework improve daily affective well-being? 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Gallup Research Says Yes Gallup Workplace https://www.gallup.com/workplace/283985/working-remotely-effective-gallup-researchsays-yes.aspx [14] Kristen Senz (2019) How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely Research and Ideas Blog https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-companies-benefit-when-employeeswork-remotely [15] Levene, H (1960) In Contributions to Probability and Statistics: Essays in Honor of Harold Hotelling, I Olkin et al eds., Stanford University Press, pp 278-292 [16] Melanie Pinola 2020 The biggest remote work challenges (and how to overcome them) https://zapier.com/blog/remote-work-challenges/ [17] Prasad, K D V., & Vaidya, R (2018) Causes and Effect of Occupational Stress and Coping on Performance with Special Reference to Length of Service: An Empirical Study Using Multinomial Logistic Regression Approach Psychology, 9(10), 2457-2470 [19] pe er re v ot Prasad, K D V., Vaidya, R., & Anil Kumar, V (2018) Association among occupational stress factors and performance at workplace among agricultural research sector employees at hyderabad, India Pacific Business Review International (TSI), 10(7), 27-36 Prasad, K D V., Vaidya, R., & Kumar, V A (2016) Teacher’s Performance as a Function of Occupational Stress and Coping with Reference to CBSE Affiliated School Teachers in and around Hyderabad: A Multinomial Regression Approach Psychology, 7(13), 17001718 Remote working and its effects Royal Society for Public Health in the UK, (2014), PGi ep [20] rin tn [18] iew ed [7] Ryff, C D., & Keyes, C L M (1995) The structure of psychological well-being revisited Journal of personality and social psychology, 69(4), 719 [22] SCIKEY MindMatch (2020) 99.8% workforce in IT sector incapable of remote working: Study https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/99-8pc-workforce-in-it-sectorincapable-of-remote-working-study/articleshow/75080948.cms Pr [21] [23] Snedecor, George W and Cochran, William G (1989), Statistical Methods, Eighth Edition, Iowa State University Press http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 388 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid-19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model Approach with Reference to Information Technology Industry in Hyderabad Staples, D S (2001) A study of remote workers and their differences from non-remote workers Journal of Organizational and End User Computing (JOEUC), 13(2), 3-14 [25] What is Remote work? (2020) https://remoteyear.com/blog/what-is-remote-work [26] Wheatley, D (2017) Employee satisfaction and use of flexible working arrangements Work, employment and society, 31(4), 567-585 [27] Working from home 101: Every remote worker's guide to the essential tools for telecommuting (2020) ZDNet https://www.zdnet.com/article/remote-working-101professionals-guide-to-the-tools-of-the-trade/ [28] Zara Greenbaum (2019) The future of remote work Monitor on Psychology 50(9)54 American psychological association https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/10/cover-remotework Pr ep rin tn ot pe er re v [24] http://www.iaeme.com/IJARET/index.asp 389 editor@iaeme.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 ...iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid- 19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model... Rajesh W Vaidya, Budumuru Muralidhar, Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid- 19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model... https://ssrn.com/abstract=3599799 iew ed Organizational Climate, Opportunities, Challenges and Psychological Wellbeing of the Remote Working Employees during Covid- 19 Pandemic: A General Linear Model