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Also, this research study was conducted only in United Arab Emirates Engineering and industrial organizations due to the research scope to determine the mentioned variables locally. Thanks also to all the proofreaders of the article for constructive criticism of the paper.
LIST OF SYMBOLS AND NOMENCLATURE
INTRODUCTION
- Problem Statement
- Aims and Objectives
- Significance and Limitations
- Summary of Report Structure
Successful organizations measure their success by the success of the business which is determined by its employee's performance. Out of the world's seven largest economies, the United Kingdom has been the most negatively affected by coronavirus. One of the most important sectors affected by this crisis was the engineering and industrial companies.
In 2020, as mentioned above, a pandemic (COVID-19) caused the organizations to send their employees remotely from home, which most of the organization was not willing to adopt. However, most of the tech and industry sectors were unwilling to use such a method to do business. This research will help to improve the future performance of the engineering and industrial companies in the United Arab Emirates.
It will provide a better understanding of current performance during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as what needs to be done to increase employee performance. The data collection will help determine the performance of teleworkers in the engineering and industrial sectors of the United Arab Emirates, the survey will be done with different levels of employees from all engineering departments of different types of engineers and industrial sectors.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Flexible Work Arrangements
Most of the scholar's models can be related to the problems associated with home and family obligations. On the other hand, flexplace performs the required duties of the employer in different locations other than the workplace. The term is credited to author Frank Schiff (1979), who wrote an article in 1979 about working from home.
The article introduced the idea as a solution to the traffic congestion, air pollution and gas consumption. The significant impact was the financial benefits, the reduction of used floor space in offices, which also means that the cost of operating a workplace is reduced for the organisation. The direct impact will affect the organization in general while the indirect impact will have no effect on the organization.
Telework employee is hired and allowed to work remotely based on mutual agreement between the individuals and the organization. However, in 2020, the pandemic (COVID-19) forced all entities to operate their resources remotely.
Teleworking and Employee Performance
According to Nishad, there are effects on employee performance when companies implement telecommuting strategies. There are well-known companies that have adapted remote work since the beginning of the 21st century (Google, Microsoft, Twitter, etc.). In addition, one study shows a difference between the implementation of internal and external dimensions of flexibility in firm performance.
Their findings show that there is a positive relationship between the internal dimensions of telecommuting and firm performance (Angel, Manuela, Pilar & Vela 2007). According to research on the impact of emotions on teleworkers, it examines the emotional impact of teleworkers through interviews. They linked the advantages and disadvantages of this work arrangement to emotional factors affecting workers (Mann, Varey & Button 2000).
The results show that although most of the observations are positive with regard to remote work, there are disadvantages such as the isolation of employees socially and professionally, which led to a decrease in their chance for promotion and professional development (Baert, Lippens, Moens, Sterkens & Weytjens 2020) . According to a study in the UAE, several factors that influence the choice of telecommuting have been tested.
Research Conceptual Framework
Most of the items correspond to items that frequently appear in the telework literature such as: social isolation, performance, balance between work and life and well-being. It assumes that demographic variables such as age, gender and nationality, etc., influence the choice to telework. As well as influencing the facilitators and inhibitors of this arrangement (Aboelmaged, Mohamed & Elamin 2009).
Teleworking Employee
Feedback Quality
Communication Process
Work-Life Interference
Communication Tools
Theory and Hypotheses
METHODOLOGY
- Sample and Data Collection
- Measures
A 7-point scale from 1 (“strongly agree”) to 7 (“strongly disagree”) was used for all substance variables. Participants were asked about the dimensions job time, job quality and job quantity as an indication of employee performance. Level of autonomy was measured using the 9-point scale from Breaugh's Work Autonomy Scales (Breaugh 1985).
Feedback quality was measured using the 5-item scale of The Feedback Environment Scales (Steelman et al. 2004). The communication process was measured using the 6-item scale, adapted from a study of the impact of communication on employee performance (Choon Hee, et al. 2019). Work-Life Interference was measured using the 8-item scale, adapted from Fisher's (2001) research that developed the Work-Life Interference scales.
Example item is "My assignments are suffering because of everything going on in my personal life". Example item is "I do not have enough information about this work arrangement to handle it satisfactorily".
ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
- Descriptive Statistics
- Exploratory Factor Analysis
- Correlation Analysis
- Regression Analysis
- Discussion
- Key Findings Summary
- Interpretation of The Findings
- Implications
- limitations
- Suggestions and Recommendations
- CONCLUSION
- Major Findings
The Pearson product correlation of employee performance and Work-Life Interference was found to be highly negative and statistically significant (r = -.23, p < 0.05). This indicates that an increase in work-life interference would lead to lower employee performance. The Pearson product correlation of Work-Life Interference and Communication tools was found to be very low positive and statistically significant correlation (r = 0.281, p < 0.01).
This indicates that an increase in work-life interference would lead to greater stress from communication tools. Work-life interference (β = -.233, t (105) . = p < .05), was the only predictor that is statistically significant in predicting the performance of employees with the telework arrangement. This study identified that there is a relationship between employee performance and work life interference in the engineering sector.
Work-life interference was the only predictor that was statistically significant in predicting employee performance. It is consistent with Fisher (2001), that high level of Work-Life Interference led to a host of strains, including higher stress, job dissatisfaction, life dissatisfaction, lack of organizational commitment and job turnover. The research findings agree with the theory proposed by the remote work study (Baert, Lippens, Moens, Sterkens & Weytjens 2020) there was no work-life interference during this work arrangement.
In their conclusion, they found that 64.6% believe that telecommuting improves their work-life balance. The data provides new evidence that organizations should still be looking for work-life balance initiatives or practices. According to fisher (2001), absence of work-life balance practices could promote strains including higher stress, job satisfaction, life dissatisfaction, lack of organizational commitment and job turnover.
Work-life balance Initiatives have been proven by scientists to improve organizational performance (Doherty 2004; Lazar, Osoian & Ratiu 2010; Smith & Gardner 2007). From a theoretical perspective, this study established that there is a statistical relationship between teleworker performance and work-life interferences in the engineering profession. The second point was concluded from the regression findings, that there is a relationship between employee performance and work-life interference in the tech and industrial sector.
Grant, Carlo Tramontano & Evie Michailidis (2018): Systematic research on the well-being of remote e-workers at work: a multidimensional approach, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. Effects of a remote virtual work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic on technostress among Menoufia University Staff, Egypt: a cross-sectional study. International journal of business and applied management. https://www.researchgate.net/publication26549084_Teleworking_in_United_Arab_Emirates.
The importance of job autonomy, cognitive abilities, and work-related skills in predicting role breadth and job performance. Retrieved from https://buid.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/impact-workload-technology-competence-on/docview se-2?accountid=178112 .
Appendix A
Employee Performance Scales
Level of Autonomy Scales
Communication Process Scales
Work-Life Balance Scales
Appendix B
