WORK FROM HOME FACTORS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE DURING COVID-19 IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

At present, the world is undergoing a seriously infectious disease of acute respiratory syndrome known as (COVID-19) coronavirus disease 2019. According the statistic by WHO Health Emergency Dashboard, until 7th July 2020, there were 535,759 people in total global deaths because of COVID-19. A widespread physical distancing being implemented by a lot of countries in order to keep within limits the spread of the virus. This gave the organizations little option but to rethink their business strategies, work procedures and the cost structures.

The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly converting the way of people work as most of the private and government premises are not allowed to operate due to the Movement Control Order. The activities or businesses that will involve physical contact or large gathering is not allowed to go as the social distancing is difficult to control, mentioned by Malaysia Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Thus, work from home arrangement for employees become the only way for the non-essential business to continue operate during the MCO period. The purpose of this research was to find out the influence of work from home factors has a positive influence on employee performance during COVID-19 in Malaysia. There are three dimensions as work from home factors which namely, home-to-work conflict, work environment and self-discipline. This research is a cross-sectional study using quantitative methods based on descriptive research. Convenience sampling is used for the study. Questionnaires is generated under self-administered and being distributed through online. The target sample size would be 384 employees who have experienced working from home during COVID-19 in Malaysia. The findings showed that home-to-work conflict, work environment and self-discipline have positive significant relationship with employee performance, especially self-discipline which has the highest influence on employee performance during COVID-19 in Malaysia. Based on the findings, it is recommended for the employers and HR department to generate the new measurement for employee who prefer to work from home even the post-pandemic as working from home is becoming a new norm.