Impact of COVID-19 Induced Teleworking Arrangements on Employees in NGOs: Implications for Policy and Practice for Leadership

Abstract

The article sought to address real or perceived “teleworking hesitancy” by generating empirical evidence on employee exposure to teleworking in a global south context. The results of the empirical investigation were integrated with the growing body of research on the future of the post-pandemic workplace. The results depicted the opposite and significant effects of perceived workload and organizational teleworking support on employee teleworking experience and the (growing) desire to utilize flexible working options. Furthermore, the results showed the significant effects of nonwork demands (negative) and resources (positive) on work engagement and the moderating role of external support contacts. The results further affirmed the mediating role of work engagement on perceived productivity. Based on these results, incremental “A-E” policy and practice considerations that place talent at the heart of organizational efforts to remain sustainably future-fit are proposed. The proposed policies and practices carry a futuristic bias, a conscious recognition that the future workplace will be “hybrid.” Areas for future research are presented.