Adjusting to epidemic-induced telework: empirical insights from teleworkers in France

Abstract

The covid-19 pandemic crisis presents unprecedented challenges and has profound implications for the way people live and work. Information and communication technologies have been playing a crucial role in ensuring business continuity as lockdown measures have suddenly forced employees from across the globe to telework, often leaving them unprepared and ill-equipped. This paper develops an epidemic-induced telework adjustment model derived from the theory of Work Adjustment and the Interactional Model of Individual Adjustment. It is tested on a sample of 1574 teleworkers in France. The results demonstrate the superiority of the influence of crisis-specific variables that are professional isolation, telework environment, work increase and stress. Implications for research are discussed while concrete and actionable recommendations for organisations are provided.