Diversity of employees’ preferences towards creative versus routine work, and individual versus teamwork in remote work conditions

Abstract

The change in preferred work models that occurred during the pandemic and post-pandemic period has meant that both creative and reproductive work now takes place in stationary, hybrid, and fully remote conditions. Employees, both those performing creative and reproductive work, in teams or individually, increasingly have to function efficiently in virtual reality, and thus in conditions of physical loneliness. Therefore, this article aims to identify how performing work remotely contributed to changing the preferences of creative and non-creative employees towards performing professional duties of a creative versus routine nature, individually or in teams. The research was carried out using the CAWI survey method among 1,000 respondents in Poland, examining their opinions on the preferences for performing work of various types in remote conditions. The study showed that each of the four types of work examined is a challenge for employees who work remotely, with the majority of respondents declaring that each type of work (creative individual, creative team, routine individual, and routine team) is more difficult for them than in the pre-pandemic reality. Moreover, it was found that the more creative the nature of the work performed, the more negatively employees assessed the preferences for performing creative and routine work, both in teams and individually. Managing creative and reproductive work is one of the most important challenges for modern managers. Currently, many scientific discussions concern what work can be automated or entrusted to artificial intelligence, and what should remain in human hands. This article may be of interest to managers as well as psychologists and creativity educators, whose task will be to prepare work teams to perform creative tasks (work of a creative nature) in remote conditions. The original value of the presented work is such a broad approach to research issues, considering both preferences for creativity and reproduction of work in conditions of individual remote work and remote teamwork. The article takes into account aspects that are important from the perspective of human resources management, management of creative teams, and employee creativity management with the increasing use of hybrid and fully remote work models in organisations.