Understanding of employees’ performing professional duties at home: A qualitative study

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the eustress and distress of employees during the pandemic. Method. The participants of this study were the employees who work from home during COVID-19. Semi-structured interviews were applied to 21 employees from various public institutions and private companies in the Jakarta area. This study is qualitative research; the choice of this design is to study the phenomena that occur among employees when faced with a pandemic condition and are required to change the way they work and maintain the independence of research results. Findings. Workload, poor communication, and work pressure are types of distress experienced by participants. The way how employees perceive and how to adapt these parameters of distress depends on setting work priority scales. However, they also have the influence of positive stress in sharing time with family and flextime. The participants, little by little, can divide their time and finish the work on time. From this study, it can be concluded that most of the participants chose the work priority scale as an essential part of this issue vital in this case. With the passage of time, the workers will be more active in the way they solve problems. The pandemic will not end soon, but the ability to start a new life (new normal) is a necessary to survive.