Well-being among IT employees working remotely : post Covid-19 reality from the perspective of IT industry

Abstract

PURPOSE: The main goal of the article is to explore and analyse the well-being among IT employees working remotely and provides some practical implications for employer branding and virtual teams management in the post-covid reality.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Researchers were particularly interested in the IT industry as being extremely competitive in terms of maintaining job satisfaction of its employees. The quantitative research was administered in September 2021, on a group of 1,889 remote workers from the seven Polish branches of the international IT corporation, which is one of the biggest employers in the Polish IT industry.

FINDINGS: Although the majority of enterprises in Poland in IT Industry do not implement well-being strategies the implication indicates that the overall level of well-being of employees in remote work is high. Additionally the research indicates that the well-being programs should be developed by companies to maintain the high level of remote workers’ well-being in three dimensions, mental, social and physical.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This paper recommends companies to invest in well-being that according to managers’ assessment has a significant impact on their sustainable development. The pandemic-induced dramatic large-scale transition to remote work, and provides an opportunity to learn about how this way of working affects employees' wellbeing. The authors concluded that employer branding strategies should be revised and include a new perspective of remote workers’ well-being needs.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This research contributes to enrich the theoretical framework for the Polish context regarding well-being among IT employees and it allows contrasting the evidence with other studies at national levels.