Eworklife: developing effective strategies for remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anna Rudnicka; Joseph W. Newbold; Dave Cook; Marta E. Cecchinato; Sandy J.J. Gould; Anna L. Cox

Eworklife: developing effective strategies for remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anna Rudnicka ,
Joseph W. Newbold ,
Dave Cook ,
Marta E. Cecchinato ,
Sandy J.J. Gould ,
Anna L. Cox

August 2020

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ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic means governments have advised citizens to engage in “social distancing” measures, which include working from home. Many people have had to learn how to work from home and develop effective strategies in a very short period. This especially rapid move to remote working is unprecedented, so we do not know how this shift is affecting people’s working lives. We developed a mixed-methods survey and a series of in-depth interviews, through which we investigated the new challenges for people in managing digital self-control, maintaining productivity and work-life balance that have surfaced during the COVID-19 crisis. We also catalogued the strategies participants adopted through the first stages of lockdown in response to these challenges. From this, we draw research and policy implications for supporting neophyte remote workers when managing digital self-control, productivity, and work-life balance during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

working from home, work life balance, COVID-19

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/S

Anna Rudnicka
University College London
anna.rudnicka.15@ucl.ac.uk (opens in new tab)

Joseph W. Newbold
Northumbria University
joseph.newbold@northumbria.ac.uk (opens in new tab)

Dave Cook
University College London
david.cook.15@ucl.ac.uk (opens in new tab)

Marta E. Cecchinato
Northumbria University
marta.cecchinato@northumbria.ac.uk (opens in new tab)

Sandy J.J. Gould
University of Birmingham
s.gould@cs.bham.ac.uk (opens in new tab)

Anna L. Cox
University College London
anna.cox@ucl.ac.uk (opens in new tab)

E-WORKLIFE was created by researchers in digital distraction and work-life balance to explore evidence-based strategies to support remote working. It builds on a decade of our research into how to best manage our digital devices to support both the work and non-work parts of our lives. The team, led by Prof Anna Cox consists of researchers from UCL, Northumbria University and University of Birmingham. https://www.eworklife.co.uk/team/ (opens in new tab)