An exploratory case study: The role of work characteristics on engagement and job satisfaction among non-tech workers in tech industries in the Philippines during Covid-19 pandemic

• Main Author: Cubacub, Ma. Elizabeth G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Telecommuting; Flexible work arrangements; Home labor; Job satisfaction; Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_comlaw/1; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=etdm_comlaw
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Covid-19 Pandemic had resulted to a drastic transformation of traditional work set up. A huge percentage of organizations worldwide have adopted Remote Work Arrangement or Work-From-Home set-up primarily to resume business operations and to protect the employees from catching the life-threatening Corona virus. With this change comes problems in management of employees and keeping their well-being. Working remotely had impact on some work outcomes including levels of employee engagement and job satisfaction of employees with work characteristics playing an important role. The purpose of this exploratory study is to create a collection of incidents that will address the challenges of the thirty-two non-tech remote workers in Metro Manila during the Covid-19 pandemic and suggest solutions for them. Most people assume that Tech companies are better at adapting in work-from-home setup compared to other industries. However, tech companies are also comprised of employees holding non-technical roles such as marketing, human resources, operations among others. The researcher had applied Braun & Clarke’s Six-Step Thematic Analysis as suggested by researchers performing qualitative studies in the field of Industrial Psychology. The results of the study showed that employees placed in remote work arrangement during the time of pandemic displays high level of job satisfaction only when they feel they have work-life-balance. Past research shows that employee engagement is only a consequence of job satisfaction which did not even reflect in the study. In our findings, job satisfaction is low for middle and upper management when they feel that they have too much workload and when their work-life-balance is suffering. Lastly, this research suggested that among the Work Characteristics; job autonomy is an important element when discussing various work outcomes including job satisfaction and turnover tendency.