Employees working from home see loss of face-to-face time with colleagues as big issue

EMPLOYEES working from home have reported lack of workplace interaction and time management as among the biggest problems they face during the pandemic, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said, citing the results of a study.

In a statement Monday, PIDS, a government think tank, said the issues were turned up by a research paper, “Towards a Sustainable Online Work in the Philippines: Learnings from the Online Survey of Market and Nonmarket Work during the Enhanced Community Quarantine.”

The study was written by PIDS Senior Research Fellows Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy, Aniceto C. Orbeta, Jr., Ramonette B. Serafica, and Research Assistant Lora Kryz C. Baje.

“The study found that the ‘lack of interaction with other workers, and time management due to the workers’ housework responsibilities or full-time jobs” are linked to the “lack of collective organization and weak voice of platform workers in the Philippines,” PIDS said.

The study also noted the need for better social protections for workers in telecommuting arrangements in the area of compensation and benefits; and an assurance of gender equality. The authors added that “there is growing attention (being paid) to online work because it is associated with the absence of social protection.”