Teleworking in Portuguese communities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose Human beings spend about a third of their day working, so it is very important that they are integrated into a good community work environment. When the setting is teleworking in a family and housing context, it is important to keep a good environment and also a good physical, psychological and ergonomic aspects to attain job performance. The purpose of this paper is to characterize teleworking carried out in Portuguese communities in the context of the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach A survey questionnaire was used, which analyzed general information about teleworking and the individual’s adaptation process and the difficulties they faced during the teleworking period. The sample consists of 359 individuals aged 18 years or over, who were teleworking in their homes and in a family environment. Findings The results show that adapting to teleworking was easy or very easy and that it happened very quickly. The main difficulties encountered by the individuals were the lack of professional interaction/communication with coworkers, the lack of resources related to support infrastructures, such as the internet or a printer, and the reconciliation of teleworking with family life/household chores/dedication to children and time/schedule management. Originality/value This study hopes to contribute to the increase of the scientific knowledge in the teleworking field and to allow companies to rethink the teleworking strategies to optimize resources and costs and to improve the organization’s productivity without harming the quality of life and well-being of their workers.