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(Source: Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2021)

 

Figure 2.2: Graphical Representation of the Cognitive Demands of Flexible Work

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(Source: Springer, 2022)

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Physical Health Implications

While the mental strain is extensive, the physical repercussions are of equal importance. Given the unprecedented speed at which offices closed their doors, many employees weren’t equipped with suitable office equipment causing physical injuries to employees. Xiao, Becerik-Gerber, Roll’s (2021) study around both physical and mental well-being impacts reported 64.8% of respondents with at least one new physical health issue with a large proportion having multiple - largely attributed to unergonomic workspaces causing occupational health and safety hazards. Further to physical injuries, Moore’s study (2017) reported individuals to have increased food consumption (27.5%) and displayed a decrease in daily movement (20.2%). The decrease contributes to the ever-growing obesity rate and increasing the risk of several debilitating diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers (President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2022). These physical implications are likely to either distract or displace employees causing ineffective work and the likelihood of unplanned sick leave to deal with the physical ramifications.

 

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3.0 Environmental Impacts

The environmental repercussions of remote working has caused a greater impact on resources of both employers and employees. At the start of the Covid-19 remote working phase, there was a shift from both building occupiers and owners to power down their buildings to preserve power and energy, placing their buildings into hibernation. It was quickly revealed however to have nil or counter environmental effects as these buildings are centrally controlled and operated, meaning should a single employee be in the building, it would need to be operating on the same level as if operating at full capacity. Many of these buildings have specialised building wide services including air conditioning systems, complex fire suppression systems and electrical systems that all required significant weekly maintenance to ensure that they operate effectively. Gui, Gou, Zhang and Yu (2021) explored this notion, confirming that in reality, most research buildings were still in operation during all Covid-19 periods indicating there was no significant difference in energy use between the two academic years thus reporting no benefits to the environment.

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Another important factor has been a direct correlation between the additional power needs required from remote working for both the worker and the employer. This correlation is based upon the requirement for workers to heat and cool their homes during the hours they would normally be at work, as well as powering a working from home set-up. These requirements correlate to the additional power requirements to power, cool and sustain large computer server systems either on or off site to enable this remote working arrangement. Nayak, Mishra, Naik, Swapnarekha, Cengiz and Shanmuganathan (2020) conclude through their primary analysis that because of the lockdown there was a drop in the demand of the commercial load while the demand for residential load expanded to the maximum. The technology lifecycle and the increased remote working functions also results in an excessive amount of electronic waste, with device fails and required upgrades to cope with remote working demands. Unfortunately, developing nations are often burdened with this domestic e-waste in addition to the transport of e-waste from other countries (Trivedi, Pandey & Trivedi, 2022, p. 2).

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With major organisations committing to environmental stewardship, including B Corp status and those who are signatures to the Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous waste and their disposal, the combination of continual building systems in addition to remote work formats is troublesome in maintaining these commitments and increasing cost pressures on the organisation (Oliveria, Bernades & Gerbase, 2012, p. 1595).

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4.0 Relationship Detriments

As the recent remote working orders were reactionary steps to allow staff to continue to work while operating in isolation, they were not developed with workplace relationship management considered. Apparent in virtual work environments across the globe, workplace socialisation suffered, with reports of workplace relationships deteriorating. Studies undertaken by Microsoft throughout their global workforce from the outset of remote working orders highlighted that workplace relationships between staff outside of immediate teams were suffering (Baym, Larson & Martin, 2021). The analysis saw a reduction in collaboration, with staff less likely to communicate broadly across the whole team, and almost twice as likely to communicate one-on-one within their immediate team. The core findings of this study were clear: remote working increased employee isolation and caused departments to silo.

Workplace silos pose a threat to organisations achieving their goals (Bento, Tagliabue & Lorenzo, 2020), and inhibits collaboration and innovation (Stone, 2004). Furthermore a digitally-only environment within a siloed environment can create stagnant thinking with a lack of diversity or diverse thinking as interactions are more controlled, creating in and out group mentalities, insulated thinking and in some cases, destructive thinking. To help overcome this threat, organisations must focus on creating opportunities for employees to build social capital. Humans need to feel a sense of belonging, helping with cognitive processes and staving off associated health and well-being effects of isolation (Baumeister & Leary, 2007). To help organisations build social capital, and in-turn develop workplace relationships and employee’s sense of belonging, they must first look at the benefits that come with returning to the workplace. Employees who cohabitate workplaces are more likely to build strong ties, facilitated through more frequent informal interactions, which affords employees the opportunity to strengthen weaker ties, and allows an improved flow of information across the organisation (Deal & Levenson, 2021).

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Decision making results have also been found to increase in a face-to-face environment with a study undertaken on the effectiveness of decision making in face-to-face versus virtual teams, showing that not only were face-to-face teams more effective, but virtual teams also experienced higher levels of competitive interdependence (O’Neill et.al, 2016). Furthermore, a reduction in remote working helps address issues around the management of remote teams as a recent study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management found that supervisors are not happy with the extra work associated with remote work (Kelly, 2021). With an additional study indicating supervisors don’t hold remote workers in high regard potentially increasing micro-management and a reduction in autonomy and employee empowerment (Va, 2021). Thus organisations must look at the increase in workload in remote environments placed on middle and senior management, and the flow-on effects to their capacity to be productive and efficient.  

 

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5.0 Company Value and Cohesion

As organisational relationships suffer in the workplace, as does the organisational culture. Cultural strength has a significant impact in achieving desired performance levels and outcomes thus should be of major concern for organisations when remote working (Lee & Yu, 2004). A recent study conducted by Gallup highlighted that remote employees were less likely to report that someone cared about them at work, less likely to feel recognised for their work contributions and that their opinions counted, resulting in a workforce that was more disconnected from core culture components of the organisation and less likely to identify how they personally contribute to the mission of the company (Herway & Hickman, 2022). This impacts levels of motivation with autonomy suffering. Figure 5.1 illustrates this notion, with high performing organisations achieving high motivation to share knowledge as it creates a supportive climate with higher levels of autonomy (Foss et.al, 2015).

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Figure 5.1: Three-Way Interaction with Autonomous Motivation to Share Knowledge as the Dependent Variable

 

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(Source: Human Resource Management, 2015)

 

While the evidence against remote work environments impacts corporate culture, the recruitment and addition of new staff to the organisation must also be considered. A recent study on the digital onboarding experience highlighted the difficulties employees faced in understanding their role and a lack of authentic engagement and ability for newcomers to build relationships with colleagues, with younger talent in particular (Petrilli, Galuppo & Ripamonti, 2022). This level of disconnection is likely to stunt the development of this talent with confusion in the company culture, lack of understanding and competence in internal systems used and incomplete relationships throughout the wider company that often assist in performing tasks. This is of great importance and is illustrated in figure 5.2, identifying the importance of workplace relationships and their interrelated nature, often reliant on individuals outside immediate teams.

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Figure 5.2: A Social Network Map Demonstrating the Complexity and Importance of Workplace Relationships

 

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(Source: Academy Of Management Perspectives, 2015)

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With culture assisting in creating a sense of belonging and enjoyment, the influence and way-of-working can help organisations stand out from their competition, attracting top talent (Gully, Phillips, Castellano, Han & Kim, 2013). This has substantial opportunity costs to the company, however, also puts pressure on the cost of recruitment. The Society for Human Resource Management recently revealed that the average cost per hire is $4,129, thus with increased turnover rates or ineffective hires this cost could become exponential, giving companies incentive to maintain a solid culture and employee retention strategy (Haiilo, 2019).

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6.0 Conclusion

Through the research and findings, we can conclude that the cost to organisations should remote working continue would be substantial to both human capital and those with direct monetary values, with the negative implications outweighing the positive. With impacts to employee’s psychological safety, sense of belonging and mental and physical well-being, the risk for absenteeism, retention and productivity are significant. Furthermore, with the utility and technology requirement increase, environmental ramifications are apparent driving costs to both the employer and employee in addition to the earth. The lack of meaningful relationships and knowledge sharing is also detrimental to business success, stifling opportunities for growth and innovation and will be seen in the coming years should working remotely continue with costly errors on the rise due to the siloed work environment. Finally, with the external pressures and social commitments now on the rise and normalising (pre-pandemic), it will become even harder to create a separation between work and home, thus any marginal improvement to efficiencies should be disregarded in the argument of benefits outweighing the negative implications of remote work.