Effects of Remote Working on Employee Productivity at Absa Bank Plc

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.