dc.description.abstract | Remote working can hamper or improve employees’ productivity in an organization. In response
to Covid-19 pandemic as well as related government regulations, Absa Bank Plc had to develop
remote work policies and procedures to create room for employee remote working. With minimum
supervision, the human resource department in Absa bank Plc has to ensure that employees
working from their homes remain motivated and productive. It is therefore important to understand
how remote working affects employees’ productivity in banking sector.This study assessed
literature review on remote working and employee productivity. The findings from literature
review established that remote working influences employee productivity significantly and
positively. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the effect of remote working on
employees’ productivity. The environments’ dynamic nature in which the organizations and the
employees operate make this research very fundamental. The study’s objective was to evaluate the
effect of remote working on overall employees’ productivity at ABSA Bank Plc. It focuses on
whether the preparation that help personnel to work at home has significant effect on their
productivity. To achieve this objective, a case study was adopted. Stratified random sampling was
employed to pick a sample of employees working in seven departments at the head office of Absa
Bank Plc in Nairobi County. These departments are customer service, compliance and legal,
enterprise banking, information and communication technology, credit, marketing and corporate
relations and operations departments. Data was collected through questionnaires and quantitative
data was analyzed and results were displayed in tables whereas qualitative data was analysed by
thematic analysis. According to the study, remote working had positive influence on employee
productivity at Absa Bank Plc. The study found that most of the employees at Absa Bank Plc had
practiced remote working in the last three years to very large extent. Further, the study found that
remote working enabled a more flexible work schedule, enhanced cohesion between work and
family life, reduced interferences and interruptions, and reduced on commuting and thus save a lot
of money and time. In addition, with remote working, the employees were not stressed of being
caught up in traffic during rush hour. Also, the study established that remote working saves travel
time and also reduces operation cost in terms of office space. The study established that employees
were able to accomplish their domestic roles better and meet their family obligations while remote
working. However, remote working had reduced human interaction within a team and monotony
of being at home throughout reduces social relationships. The study recommends thatAbsa Bank
Plc should ensure that team members hold frequent online meetings on daily basis so as to ensure
team cohesion. These meetings could be held using platforms such as Google Meet and Zoom
among others. In addition, the organization should be developed to monitor and assess the
performance of remote working employees. Also, Absa Bank Plc should ensure consistent physical
team building sessions among remote working employees so as to ensure that the relationship
between team members remains strong. | en_US |