Employee Engagement in the Home-Work Lifeworld

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid implementation of the work-from-home model. The struggles imposed by COVID-19 and the challenges of the work-from-home pose consequences for being either fully present and complete or fragmented when occupying an organizational role. This article summarizes existing knowledge on employee engagement under the work-from-home design. In addition, it provides new insights and coherent explanations on the development of engagement when employees are working from home. This article offers a conceptual framework regarding employee engagement and the work-from-home format, i.e., the home-work lifeworld matrix. The home-work lifeworld matrix describes and explains the processes or sequence of events while employees work from home. The home-work lifeworld matrix provides a basis for understanding the underlying constructs of engagement; body, time, space, and relations and their interconnectedness when employees work from home. The article proposes assessing engagement holistically by considering different facets of the body, time, space, and relations and specifies the implications for managing employees in home-based work.