Impacts of working from home on employee’s performance during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 novel pandemic has succeeded an unprecedented change in the global workplace, when the restrictions by government have forced employees to work from home in order to protect their health and to minimize the outspread of the virus. Remote work was an unexplored path for many global enterprises. Undoubtedly, it constitutes also a historic global future-of-work experiment. Through the implementation of telework, organizations and employees have discovered from their personal experience the benefits and risks. This empirical study is based on a literature review and the survey responses of a sample size of n=89 employees from Munich, who work in the automotive industry. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the most important factors, which have an impact on the employee performance amid the pandemic. The data were analysed using statistical measures and regression analysis. Three main hypotheses were examined E-leadership, work relationships and social relationships regarding employee performance. For instance, it was examined, how the isolation and the lack of social relationships may affect the employees’ motivation. On the other hand, the lack of face-to-face communication makes team collaboration difficult. According to the survey results, the majority of participants believe that they are more productive and motivated when they are working from home. Good collaboration, effective communication and transparency of information between team members are the fundamental foundations for productivity. So, managers and human resources should pay attention to build strong work relationships among team members. Post COVID-19 era requires managers, who use their E-leadership skills and focus on the needs, interests and goals of their employees in order to keep them motivated. Based on these findings, discussions, limitations and future research suggestions have been provided.