Not All Telework is Valuable

Abstract

Prior to COVID-19, telework was a key action adopted by companies to foster employee wellbeing, but the evidence of its effects was equivocal. This study aims to 1) develop and validate a questionnaire measuring the quality of telework (QoT-q) and 2) assess the impact of telework on employee work engagement and work-family balance in the case of high-quality telework (HqT), low-quality telework (LqT), and no telework (NoT). The sample consists of 260 workers from three Italian organizations. Through principal component analysis and Cronbach’s alpha values, the final QoT-q comprised three areas: 1) agile workplaces, 2) flexible worker, and 3) virtual leadership. ANOVAs showed that job resources, work engagement, and work-family balance are significantly higher among HqT, while job demands do not differ or were lower. The Job Demands-Resources model was useful to explain the effects of telework. Implications for future research and practice are presented.

Keywords

• telework
• questionnaire
• wellbeing
• employees
• jd-r model