PROJECT 2 PRIMARY SOURCE DATA REPORT REMOTE WORKING CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Through 179 people surveyed, we received many answers about the challenges that remote workers face, especially the impacts on themselves such as creating bad habits, changing the workin

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FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES AND CULTURE

PROJECT 2: PRIMARY SOURCE DATA

REPORT REMOTE WORKING: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong

Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Trinh 2198114

Ho Chi Minh City – July, 2022

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First and foremost, we would like to thank our mentor, Mrs Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, from the bottom of our hearts, who was with us, supported us to the fullest, providing guidance, and the valuable information she taught enabled our team to complete this primary project successfully We are quite fortunate to have such a passionate faculty member who guided us through the completion of this research paper She offered us valuable feedback as well as ways of implementing the accuracy and completeness of the content.

Aside from that, we would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to Hoa Sen University for providing us with the opportunity to experiment with these beneficial topics and apply the knowledge gained from this project to our future employment We are also truly thankful to the school for providing us with guidance and solid knowledge during our time there

Finally, without the participation and cooperation of all team members, this project would be incomplete We are grateful and sincerely appreciate the effort that everyone put in and contributed to creating a comprehensive study

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also has its disadvantages So, our team decided to analyze the challenges of remote working and come up with a solution to those challenges The purpose of this paper is to delve deeper into the definition of remote work and its challenges

by means of data collection, questionnaire survey, and data analysis Besides, we also use supporting materials such as Google Scholar, ProQuest, Sci-hub, and other resources Through 179 people surveyed, we received many answers about the challenges that remote workers face, especially the impacts on themselves such as creating bad habits, changing the working environment, and difficulty for leaders to manage employees working remotely, etc However, there are also a few people who believe that working remotely brings them positive results while working We then recommend solutions that are offered in two directions: for individuals and companies.

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PROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONSPROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONSPROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONSPROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONSPROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONSPROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONSPROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONSPROJECT.2.PRIMARY.SOURCE.DATA.REPORT.REMOTE.WORKING.CHALLENGES.AND.SOLUTIONS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGE i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

TABLE OF CHARTS v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Aims of the study project 1

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Organization of the study project 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Definition of terms 4

2.2 Theoretical Framework 4

2.3 Conceptual Framework 6

2.3.1 Information of Challenges

2.3.1.1 Communication 6

2.3.1.2 Making the Technology Work 6

2.3.1.3 Getting Information 6

2.3.1.4 Balancing Work/Life Demands 7

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2.3.1.5 Organizing Time 7

2.3.2 Information of Solutions

2.3.2.1 Supervisors 7

2.3.2.2 Colleagues 8

2.3.2.3 Work-life balance 8

2.3.2.4 Requirement 9

2.3.3 Summary

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 10

3.1 Introduction 10

3.2 Data Collection 10

3.2.1 Surveys/ Questionnaires

3.3 Data analysis 11

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 12

4.1 Participants 12

4.1.1 Individual

4.1.2 Age

4.1.3 Occupation

4.2 Challenges 13

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4.2.2 Leadership and management

4.3 Discussion 15

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SOLUTIONS 18

5.1 Solutions 18

5.1.1 Individuals

5.1.2 Leadership and management

REFERENCES vi

APPENDIX ix

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TABLE OF CHARTS

Chart 1: Challenges from employees 13

Chart 2: Challenges from the surrounding environment 13

Chart 3: Difficulty from employers 14

Chart 4: Solutions for Individual 17

Chart 5: Organization's Solutions 18 Pie 1: The percentage of remote employees

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background

The term of ‘Remote working’ has been well-known as the trends in the world Especially, after COVID-19 pandemic time, ‘Remote working’ continually becomes one of the effective working ways of global employees It allows employees to work in every space which they like and actively choose time to start working According to an article about future of remote working of Forbes (2020), an approximate 70% of workplaces are predicted that would be switched into working remotely Working remotely benefit employees from working time

to workspace That could be a main reason of ‘Remote working’ being the working trend in the world

In spite of many offline workplaces opening up post COVID-19 pandemic, employees tend to stay at home and start working online Especially in Vietnam, due to appearance of movement restriction rules at the beginning of the quarantine, Vietnamese employees force to work-from-home, a type of remote working Then, currently employees are getting used to and ready to work remotely because of the advantages it takes such as less consuming time or increasing flexibility No matter how effective remote working is, during the working time, not only the Vietnamese remote employees but also remote employees from all countries have to face with tons of challenges affecting to their psycho, working performance, and may affect directly to their organization

or company Recognizing the current appearance of challenges between individual or organization and remote working is number one aim of this study project.

1.2 Aims of the study project

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The aims of the study project are: (1) investigate challenges which remote employees face with while working remotely (2) find out the best solutions for each challenges above.

By gathering information from employees working remotely to know the difficulty remote employees faces with, this study explores the challenges which prevent employees working remotely from getting a great performance and the demur which hesitates employees who want to switch into working remotely From these challenges, this study also finds out the best solutions to assist the remote employees partly improve their remote working experience and feel easier when working remotely by overcoming these challenges

2 What are the suggest solutions for remote employees and organization?

Recognizing the challenges which remote employees face with could be a main proof to define how difficulty people working remotely face with Besides that, these challenges can help remote employees finding out the best solutions for decreasing the affects difficulty they face with and partly assist them retrieve better performance while working as remote employees.

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1.4 Organization of the study project

The structure of the study project is separated into five main particular parts The background information and research questions providing the overview information and emphasized aspects of Remote working is mentioned in the Chapter 1 – Introduction In additional, the definitions of relative terms and summarizing of some relative information of challenges and solutions from previous studies of another researchers is contained on Chapter 2 – Literature review Moreover, in Chapter 3 – Methodology, a way how data are gathered, and way of analyzing data is also showed Following that, all the results from surveying illustrated in words and charts, and discussion part are comprehended

in Chapter 4 – Finds and Discussion Finally, the recommendations about giving solutions for remote working challenges and conclusion of this study project are stayed at Chapter 5 – Recommendations and Conclusion.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of terms

According to Margrethe H Olson of New York University (1983), working remotely focuses on organizational work done from outside the normal organizational confines of time and space Remote work is the practice of employees performing their duties from a location other than the employer's main office A worker's home, a co-working or other common space, a personal office,

or any other location other than the classical corporate office building or campus could be considered.

In simpler terms, rather than going to the office throughout the day to work from

a specified desk, remote employees are able to work on their projects and exceed their goals from wherever they want People have the freedom to plan their days

in such a way that their personal and professional lives can be lived to the best of their ability.

In Vietnam, during the pandemic, along with the government's directives, everyone was not allowed to leave the house, so almost all companies have switched to remote working to adapt to the situation.

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until the implementation is completed For a remote working implementation, this means that it continues until remote working is terminated.

The primary sources of risk for any initiative, and as such, areas that must be considered when implementing remote working (David Nickson & Suzy Siddons, 2003) External sources of risk can range from terrorism and earthquakes on one end of the spectrum to a traffic jam that makes it impossible for a remote worker to arrive on time for a meeting Changes in tax policy for the use of your home devices are also external risks All of those are issues such as government changes or political issues within an organization Government legislation on health and safety, for instance and transport policy associated costs may be increased It can be exceedingly expensive to develop for those who work remotely

Commercial risk includes is where the customer is uncertain, clients unhappy about dealing with distributed workforce If the customer cancels the transaction, there is a chance that the services will not be paid for and/or the goods will not be delivered Another example would be higher-than-expected communication charges for Internet access In addition, technology is failing to meet the performance needs of remote workers For example, emails with large attachments can force employees to stay connected for too long, preventing them from accessing other organizational systems required to do their jobs In particular, data loss occurs due to a lack of rigorous backup facilities, and logistics support fails to deliver critical equipment on time At a critical juncture, key personnel leave or become ill

Common risks include employee development being more difficult than on-site, and office workers resenting remote workers' perceived freedom Managers discover that they lack the ability to collaborate with remote workers, and workers discover that they lack the skills required to work from home Internal communication between employees and between employees and the organization

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is less effective, making performance measurement difficult Staff lack the necessary skills to complete the task at hand, making them unsuitable for remote work.

Procedures are unclear, and the remote worker wastes time correcting/attempting

to establish the proper process Because the procedures do not work, the remote worker is unable to perform the role The burden of processes related to information security and maintenance renders remote workers unproductive Company procedures may have such a high bureaucratic overhead that working remotely and completing the paperwork becomes too onerous It may be too difficult to obtain approval for something out of the ordinary.

2.3 Conceptual Framework 2.3.1 Information of Challenges

Dr Marivic F Flores (2019) identified the top five challenging factors that have affects to remote working experienced

2.3.1.1 Communication

Collaborating and communicating with others are chosen to be the most factor challenge when working remotely Lack of face-to-face interaction may arise the feelings of isolation and loneliness for remote employees (Busch, E., Nash, J and Bell, B S., 2011) Aside from that, 75% managers said they trust their remote employees, but a third say they would like to be able to see them, just to be sure (GWA, 2020).

2.3.1.2 Making the Technology Work

Additional technology work problems, such as arranging video conferencing places, the abundance of notifications, working application and multiple intranet channels are particularly the second challenge considered For instance, when working at the company, remote employees typically do not need to worry about

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the technical workplace “Everything is usually handled by the company.” (Alina Clark, 2021).

2.3.1.3 Getting Information

Due to the lack of interconnectivity and transparency, remote workers still need time to interact and extend information on work or with team members (Dr Marivic F, 2019) Nearly 60% of remote workers claim they miss critical information because it was passed down from one person to the next When important information becomes trapped in a bubble, it can result in lost work, missed deadlines, and scope creeps Just make sure that the transparency applies equally to all members of the team (Evan, 2020).

2.3.1.4 Balancing Work/Life Demands

Separating Work and Home Life becomes the difficult part when working remotely The life routine is interrupted when you work from home The distinction between work and home is sometimes blurred, causing remote employees to remain in a work mindset indefinitely (2021) According to a meta- analysis conducted by Hoffman and Woehr (2006), the person-environment fit is

an important predictor of employee outcomes such as performance and corporate citizenship behavior.

2.3.1.5 Organizing Time

When you have a large amount of unstructured time on your hands, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, especially when you discover you can't just copy/paste an office routine pattern You are fully alone in how you organize and manage your time without physical limitations to your office or managers overseeing your work Working from home can be damaging to your quality and amount of work, especially if you get distracted (Matthews, 2019)

2.3.2 Information of Solutions

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2.3.2.1 Supervisors

According to Mr Grant (2013), employee supervisors have a significant effect on remote workers Lautsch et al (2009) indicated that administrators assist remote employees in being productive and effective When the staff works from home, it's easier to feel depressed and isolated than working in a workplace A lack of focus and instruction causes the reduction in mood and symptoms of depression.

As a consequence, the solution to this issue will be based on a manager or a supervisor Remote employees will be more hardworking if they are motivated and encouraged (Pattnaik, L., & Jena, L K., 2020)

2.3.2.2 Colleagues

One of the five methods to lessen the unhappiness and complexity of telecommuters is to connect with colleagues to learn and enhance abilities (Limoncelli, T A., 2020)

Once a week, using the website to book conference rooms and meetings, meetings will be held at Stack Overflow where users simply video together and muffle the sound The sound will be only turned on when asking and answering a question or discussing thoughts This may also mean that everyone gets together

in the next room to work on the other hand that working from a distance This type of meeting is more than simply a meeting; it could also be used to discuss the topic not related to work, such as cooking during the week, planning Friday lunchtime meals, or agreeing on a movie to watch and so on It is unnecessary to organize such conferences, but it does help to relax and develop a spirit of teamwork Connecting and personal working is one way to ensure that remote employees are up to the mark This will allow people to do something that easily knows what they are doing and is not affected by many elements Organizing work based on to-dos first makes everyone feel more productive and relieves pressure from a variety of sources

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2.3.2.3 Work-life balance

According to Mr Flores (2019), 79.02% of the participants in this study preferred the solution of work-life balance At 86.04%, balance is second to independent work and organized work is the most common variation among individuals E-message on the phone or condition is the example of remote employee who can set up a plan and get rid of the phone

2.3.2.4 Requirement

This detail was presented in the study Located in remote areas, remote employees face numerous poor network conditions and slowdown connections, leading to decreased sharing of information According to Ahmad (2021), if the problem is found to be ineffective for remote employee cannot be resolved, it will put a lot of pressure on medical service costs As a result, a support policy for remote personnel is critical Depending on the requirements of each individual, a desk or chair, screen, or computer keyboard could be provided.

2.3.3 Summary

Our team gained a lot of information about remote working as a result coming from perspective of responders The problems of remote working, as shown by surveys, include a problem with not providing equipment to perform the task, depression, and decreasing productivity in the workplace As a result, the company's and colleagues' assistance is effective in overcoming the challenges of this extremely remote working The researchers devised tactics based on surveys

of both working and remote employees, which has had both advantages and disadvantages As a consequence, businesses will have an easier time discovering and communicating with their remote employee

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

Our research includes data which are directly collected from origins or responders, known as primary data The main reason is primary data are gained from the latest, value and reliable data of origins (Hox & Boeije, 2005) Through collected data, we are able to extract useful information, which is clear, suitable answers for our study.

Moreover, according to Ibert, et al (2001), there are two main groups of techniques used for collecting primary data: quantitative research (survey, observation, real-life experience) and qualitative research (interview, focus group) As explained by Wagh (2021), each technique contains specific benefits and drawbacks For example, a focus group technique can help deeply explore a topic by group discussion, but it is hard to analyze responses As a consequence,

we choose mixed methods research for this study in case of lacking fully, correct information In our research, a quantitative method through using questionnaires

or surveys is taken advantage of quickly getting as much as possible data from responders but being inexpensive and easy comparing them For qualitative, individual interviews are mainly used for understanding responders’ experiences and getting full range and depth of data (Carter, 2017).

3.2 Data Collection 3.2.1 Surveys/ Questionnaires

According to Mathers (2007), surveys are often helpful to models that are not experimental to describe reality The survey method is used for collecting information about the attitudes and behavior of the entities that the researchers are looking for There are a lot of ways that the survey can be used as a cross- sectional survey, longitudinal surveys and explanatory or correlational surveys.

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The advantage of this approach is to get through to everyone who is in a position

to get access to it For using an email and cell phone to conduct a survey, the individual doing research takes only a few minutes and costs less than the normal one And can use a method of random chance to choose a participant and then take the entire population conclusion The final focus of this survey is the value and the reliable source of data.

As a result, our group chose this method of study because this approach is easy to

do and fast to implement People can all use mobile devices like phones, computers and tablets to make a quick survey This method does not consume any cost that is easy to reach a lot of the people we are looking for Surveys are a way to do traditional research They have a flexible approach to investigate the range of problems The survey will use the required questionnaire to serve in the need for different research purposes Users, consumers, and objects that researchers are looking for will respond.

3.3 Data analysis

This study uses narrative analysis Narrative analysis refers to gathering the detailed answer of responders such as experiences, action, and analyzing the data from surveys, and interviews (McAlpine, 2016) The reason is this methodology allows research targets to provide detailed information through telling their stories and experiences about a particular topic (Oliver, 1998) For example, in this study, responders are asked to share their experiences about remote working All of the result from responders is sent directly to Excel file and stored percentages pie charts This work could probably help this study fully get and manage the income information of responders.

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Participants

There were 179 people attending to the surveys to show their perspective on the remote working, its challenges which affect to them and then point out solutions for these challenges Out of 179 participants, the number of females joining the surveys of this study was much more than males’, respective 130 (72.2%) and 49 (27.8%)

4.1.2 Age

Participants of surveys, by the way, come from various ranges of ages There mainly are 91 responders from 18 to 24 years old who early have opportunities of interacting with technology and working or studying as remote workers and students Then, 19% of people, who were at range of 30 to 35 years old, were known as experienced workers or experts in their own field However, they did not strongly believe that remote working can give them benefits or assist them get a high result when working The main reason is they had not had the chance working remotely before And, while working at home amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, they felt difficult to adapt to working as remote employees In addition

to it, participants came from ranges of 25 to 30 years old and over 35 years old, respectively 15.6% and 16%

4.1.3 Occupation

Almost occupations are somehow affected by remote working This is the main reason this study collected information of participants working in various professions and without restriction in choosing occupations to do survey There were 35 participants as lectures or teachers agree that remote working affect to their working pace In addition, 58 (32.2%) students, who were currently having part-time or used to work for one company, confirm working as remote

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employees impedes them Furthermore, there are nearly a hundred participants working different field such as information technology (IT), medical industry, and other fields They thought that working remotely besides the benefits, they had to face with the challenges of remote working.

4.2 Challenges 4.2.1 Individual

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Remote work is more common than it used to be, but it still has its drawbacks When working remotely, there are two main effects: the person's own impact and

the surrounding conditions After distributing questionnaires on remote working,

we received a wide range of responses about the challenges that those who work remotely face, particularly the impacts on themselves Working from home, according to 44.7% of survey respondents, contributes to bad habits such as staying up late, drinking too much coffee to stay awake, and overworking These bad habits are supposed to be the main factors that lead remote employees to have bad performance Furthermore, changing the working environment will also have a significant impact on work efficiency, as 25.1% of survey respondents believe it will be difficult for them to focus entirely on their work if they are not

at the office Approximately 22.3% of remote employee believe it is difficult to divide specific time for each job That is why people working remotely could not control their workloads and put themselves into overload status and stress The rest described feeling lonely and unmotivated when working alone without coworkers or in an office However, there are a few people believe that remote working brings them a positive result while working.

Feeling alone Missing motivation Out of focus on working due to environment

Having bad habits Have bad performance

No scheduling time for each work Having positive performance More focus on work Feeling lazy Nothing

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Chart 1: Challenges from employees

Tiêu đề	Remote Working: Challenges And Solutions
Tác giả	Le Thi Thuy Doan, Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Trinh, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Nguyen Thanh Hieu, Vo Hong Trinh
Người hướng dẫn	Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong
Trường học	Hoa Sen University
Thể loại	Primary Source Data Report
Năm xuất bản	2022
Thành phố	Ho Chi Minh City

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