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The COVID-19 has grandly shaken all organizations, creating a complex and challenging environment for managers and human resource management (HRM) practitioners, who need to find ingenious solutions to ensure the continuity of their companies and to help their employees to cope with this extraordinary crisis. Studies addressing the impact of this crisis on HRM are sparse. This paper is a general literature review, which aims at broadening the scope of management research, by exploring the impact of the COVID-19 on HRM. It identifies the main challenges and opportunities that have arisen from this new pandemic and it offers insights for managers and HRM practitioners into possible future organizational directions that might arise from these opportunities.

The widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work due to COVID-19 calls for studies that explore the ramifications of these scenarios for office workers from an occupational health and wellbeing perspective. This paper aims to identify the needs and challenges in remote and hybrid work and the potential for a sustainable future work environment. Data collection involved two qualitative studies with a total of 53 participants, who represented employees, staff managers, and service/facility providers at three Swedish public service organisations (primarily healthcare and infrastructure administration). The results describe opportunities and challenges with the adoption of remote and hybrid work from individual, group, and leadership perspectives. The main benefits of remote work were increased flexibility, autonomy, work-life balance and individual performance, while major challenges were social aspects such as lost comradery and isolation. Hybrid work was perceived to provide the best of both worlds of remote and office work, given that employees and managers develop new skills and competencies to adjust to new ways of working. To achieve the expected individual and organisational benefits of hybrid work, employers are expected to provide support and flexibility and re-design the physical and digital workplaces to fit the new and diverse needs of employees.

With almost one third of the world on a lockdown, the corporates and the offices have now rapidly shifted to working from home. Since no specific treatment has been suggested by any medical institution so far, World Health Organization has recommended that the only possible solution to be safe is to self-isolate and stay home. Due to this, the world has come to a screeching halt and the businesses have to be shifted to remote work. Work-from-Home is a very new experience for most of us and hence the perception of the people ranges from being very excited to very hopeless. This study aims to examine the sentiments of the people regarding Work-from-Home concept by analysing twitter activities posted on social media. Total 100,000 tweets were analysed for this study. Results indicate that Work-from-Home concept was taken positively by the people. The emotions associated with most of the tweets were of trust and anticipation indicating that this concept is being welcomed by the people.

PurposeThe present study integrates inclusive leadership and protection motivation theory to propose a new model predicting employees' intention to work from home during an emergency situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was developed to collect data from 939 Taiwanese and Vietnamese office employees using a non-probability convenience sampling method. A total of 887 valid questionnaires were used for further analysis. The data were analysed following a two-stage structural equation modelling using SPSS 22 and AMOS 20 software. The validity and reliability of the instrument were tested and ensured.FindingsThe results revealed that inclusive leadership and factors related to protection motivation theory– including perceived severity and perceived vulnerability – have positive direct and indirect effects on employees' work-from-home intentions through the mediating role of employees' work-from-home-related attitudes. Protection motivation theory factors were found to have a stronger effect on employees' work-from-home intention than inclusive leadership. Differences in the relationship between perceived vulnerability, perceived severity and employees' intentions towards working from home were also discovered among participants from the two studied countries.Practical implicationsThe integration of inclusive leadership and protection motivation theory brings into light what will drive employees' intention to work from home during an emergency situation. The present study has several theoretical and practical implications for scholars, governments, managers and policymakers that can help them improve management policies for working from home in the future.Originality/valueBased on integrating inclusive leadership and protection motivation theory to explore employees' intention to work from home during an emergency situation, the present study demonstrated that inclusive leadership and protection motivation theory should be considered for studies on working from home in a pandemic setting.

In 2020, as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world enacted a wide variety of regulations and laws to contain the incidence of infection. One of these measures was the relocation of work to the home office. The objective of this review was to analyze the influence of the home office in correlation with regulations on sedentary and activity behavior. A search was conducted on various electronic databases from November 2019 to January 2022, using the search terms physical activity (PA), COVID-19, and working from home. The primary outcomes were changes in PA and sedentary behavior (SB). Secondary outcomes included pain, mood, and parenting stress. The risk of bias was assessed using the (NHLBI) Quality Assessment Tool. For the review, 21 articles met the inclusion criteria (total n = 1268). There was a significant increase in SB (+16%) and a decrease in PA (−17%), Light PA (−26%), and moderate to vigorous PA (−20%). There was also an increase in pain and parenting stress and a decrease in well-being. Due to our significant results, programs that promote movement should be created. Future studies should explore how an increase of PA and a reduction of SB in the home office could be achieved.

Purpose This study aims to test the relationship between work from home (WFH) and employee productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also examines the moderating role of gender in the relationship between WFH and employee productivity. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 250 respondents from hospitality, banking and information technology was taken from the National Capital Region and Punjab State of India. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and multi-group moderation analysis. Findings The findings provide support for the negative relationship between WFH and employee productivity. This study also provides empirical evidence that gender moderates the relationship between WFH and employee productivity. Originality/value This study is the first of its kind to test the relationship between WFH and employee productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study contributes to the organizational behavior literature by providing empirical support to the organizational adaptation theory.

Purpose To evaluate the work‐from‐home (WFH) status of medical physicists in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Southern California chapter (SCC) during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic. Materials and methods An anonymous online survey was conducted through the SurveyMonkey platform and distributed to members of the AAPM SCC in January 2023. The 19 survey questions included eight multiple‐choice questions to collect demographic and background information, ten Likert‐scale items evaluating reasons for WFH, efficiency, flexibility, clinical coverage, collegial relationships, leadership trust, work hours, operating costs, employee satisfaction, and impacts on education, training, and research, plus one open‐ended question to obtain qualitative feedback. and the data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitive methods. Quantitative data were summarized using descriptive statistics, while qualitative responses were thematically categorized. Results At the end of a 5‐week collection period (January 3, 2023, to February 10, 2023), a total of 62 responses were received (33% response rate). Most respondents identified the COVID‐19 pandemic as the primary driver of WFH and reported that remote work increased job satisfaction, flexibility, and productivity while enabling timely completion of clinical duties. Reported concerns included reduced collegial relationships, limited trust in leadership, extended work beyond official hours, and decreased visibility relative to other clinical staff. Qualitative responses emphasized benefits such as reduced commuting and improved work–life balance, along with challenges for on‐site clinical duties and training. Hybrid work models were frequently identified as the most practical long‐term solution. Conclusions This pilot study compared the WFH status among medical physicists from AAPM SCC during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic and highlights both advantages and limitations of WFH for medical physicists. WFH offers notable benefits for medical physicists, including enhanced flexibility and satisfaction. However, essential clinical responsibilities require on‐site presence. These findings support the development of tailored hybrid work models and inform future workforce strategies. Expansion to a national survey is planned to further evaluate WFH practices within the medical physics community.

Although a large part of the world’s workforce engaged in mandatory Work from Home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience was not the same for everyone. This study explores whether different groups of employees, based on their work and organizational characteristics (i.e., organizational size, number of days per week working from home, working in team) and personal characteristics (i.e., remote work experience, having children at home), express different beliefs about working remotely, acceptance of the technology necessary to Work from Home, and well-being. A study was conducted with 163 Italian workers who answered an online questionnaire from November 2020 to January 2021. A cluster analysis revealed that work, organizational, and personal variables distinguish five different types of workers. ANOVA statistics showed that remote workers from big companies who worked remotely several days a week, had experience (because they worked remotely before the national lockdowns), and worked in a team, had more positive beliefs about working remotely, higher technology acceptance, and better coping strategies, compared to the other groups of workers. Practical implications to support institutional and organizational decision-makers and HR managers to promote remote work and employee well-being are presented.

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to investigate the psychological safety, organisation support and emotion in the workplace during the transition from office to home working during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Past studies on emotion in the workplace mostly focus on types of discreet emotion, in relation to positive and negative emotions (e.g. Connelly and Torrence, 2018; Rubino et al., 2013). Other studies reported that emotions are derived from social comparison processes (Matta and Dyne, 2020). During a crisis, the emotional responses of the workers and organisational support to the different group of employees differ due to the social exchange relationship. Hence, this study contributes to the field of organisational support by examining the organisational support as the investment of both physical and psychological resources, and the emotional responses of employees to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis during transition from office to work-from-home setting. Through thick descriptions of the workers' emotion responses to this transition, the research examined how organisational support potentially impacts the worker's experience of psychological safety.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in the Singapore context. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Singapore Government imposed regulatory restrictions, the “Circuit Breaker” from April 7 2020 to curb the spread of the virus infections. Most workplaces from the public service agencies to the private enterprises implemented work from home arrangements for most of the employees. The data were generated from an online survey that included self-reported text-based narratives in response to open-ended questions. Open-ended questions effectively allowed respondents to define the real-world situation in their perspectives. Salaried workers from both the public and private organisations were invited to take part in this research. Respondents comprise full-time, part-time and contracted employees from the diverse sectors. The final sample size of 131 respondents was used. A qualitative data analysis was employed to gain deeper insight into the workers' emotional reactions, including their personal experiences of organisational support and psychological safety, during the transition from office to work from home setting.FindingsThe qualitative examination, through thematic coding, reveals the phenomenon of emotion triggered by social comparison emotion and critical socio-emotional resources (i.e. task, flexibility, communication, health and safety and social support) during a health crisis. Specifically, the employees' emotional reactions were elicited from the perceived organisational support, in how organisation cares for their well-being and work contributions and, in turn, influence the psychological safety. For example, the approach of the online communication (as a form of organisation support) practised by the managers has implications on the different levels of psychological safety experienced by the employee. In addition, emotional resources can be interpreted as organisation support. The findings revealed that emotions such as anxiety, stress, unfairness, inferiority and vulnerability are triggered by perceived inequity and comparison with the decisions or resources of the referent others of higher level such as the management (upward social comparison emotion). On the other hand, the emotions of pride, empathy, shared goals and support are generated by the care, collective interest and comparison of the referent others of lower level such as the subordinate (downward social comparison emotion). This study adds theoretical depth to the phenomenon of socio-emotional resources and the implications of psychological safety and organisational support of different work groups in the organisation.Practical implicationsThe practical implications contribute to human resource management practices to understanding the socio-emotional resources of the core and periphery groups. It is imperative for organisation to exercise equity in the allocation of resources and treatment between different groups (core and periphery). The implications of this study show the phenomenon of emotional responses arise from comparison within groups linking with perceived fairness. The managerial decisions and supervisor management style are key factors in promoting healthy emotion and psychological safety. Management style such as micromanagement and control were not favourable among employees, and autonomy, trust and empathy resonate with employees. During a crisis and major workplace changes, demonstrating employee care through feedback, timely and specific information sharing and participatory form of communication contribute to the positive perception of procedural and interactional fairness. In the initial phase of workplace change amid crisis, some element of control is inevitable. Supervisor support may come in the form of open communication in conveying the rationale for the need to exercise control in one process and flexibility may be accorded in another task. The empowerment of workplace decisions, open communication in shared goals and assurance and trust are critical in enhancing a high psychological safety.Originality/valueThis study examines the roles of emotion, psychological safety and organisational support among different groups of workers (full-time, part-time and contracted employees) in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. There has been scant study in examining the core and periphery groups relating to these research topics. The findings in this study reveal the phenomenon of emotions triggered by social comparison during the workplace changes and the display of different socio-emotional resources within groups. This qualitative research supported the past studies that autonomy in decision-making, supervisor support, employee care and trust affect psychological safety.

Coronavirus (COVID-19), which hit in early 2020, changed the way people live and work, and affected industries and organizations all over the world. Many organizations have begun to deliver a new way of working to adapt to these shifts effectively using teleworking or a work from home policy. The purpose of this study was to fill the gaps by investigating several potential predictors of job satisfaction during working from home from the impact of COVID-19 such as work-life balance and work stress. Using a quantitative approach, 472 workers who were forced to work from home all over Indonesia participated, and the responses were analyzed using Smart-PLS software. The study revealed that working from home, work-life balance, and work stress have a significant effect, both directly and indirectly, on job satisfaction. Working from home as a new pace of work can sustain job satisfaction as the current working atmosphere for Indonesian workers. In response to the collectivist setting, working from home can be a positive sign that needs to be paid attention to for the organization.