The Practice of Working from Home Triggered by the COVID-19 Pandemic: Financial Management Implication in Organizations Globally

Olawale Amuzat, Sagaran Gopal
2021 International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences  
The coronavirus pandemic is expected to fundamentally change the way many organizations operate for the foreseeable future. As governments and businesses around the world tell those with symptoms to self-quarantine and everyone else to practice social distancing, remote work is the new reality. How do corporate leaders, managers, and individual workers make this sudden shift? This paper explores in response to the uncertainties presented by Covid-19, many companies have asked their employees to
more » ... work remotely. This level of expectation may not be feasible easily. Fortunately, there are specific steps that managers can take without great effort to improve the engagement and productivity of remote employees, even when there is little time to prepare. Research on emotional intelligence tell us that employees look to their managers for cues about how to react to sudden changes or crisis situations. If a manager communicates stress and helplessness, this will have what Daniel Goleman calls a "trickle-down" effect on employees. Effective leaders take a two-pronged approach, both acknowledging the stress and anxiety that employees may be feeling in difficult circumstances, but also providing affirmation of their confidence in their teams. With this support, employees are more likely to take up the challenge with a sense of purpose and focus. Work from Home: Prospects and challenges As the spread and far-reaching impacts of Covid-19 dominate the world news, we have all been witnessing and experiencing the parallel spread of worry, anxiety, and instability. Indeed, in a crisis, our mental state often seems only to exacerbate an already extremely challenging situation, becoming a major obstacle in itself. Why is this and how can we change it? As the CEO of a firm that brings mindfulness to companies to unlock new ways of thinking and working, let me share a bit about how the mind responds to crises, like the threat of a pandemic (Hossain et al., 2021). Our most recent study found that 58% of employees reported an inability to regulate their attention at work. As the mind wanders, research has shown that it easily gets trapped into patterns and negative thinking. During times of crisis -such as those we are living through
doi:10.6007/ijarbss/v11-i10/11257 fatcat:zqzqbiyjlvdthmt4xowmkom4wu