SOCIAL WORK, STRESS AND TELECOMMUTING DURING A CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Abstract

Objective: A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the effects of telecommuting arrangements on stress among social workers in Singapore who telecommuted during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: Forty-eight social workers from Singapore, recruited via convenience sampling, completed a 60-item online questionnaire that measured perceived stress, family-to-work conflict, work-to-family conflict, ethical responsibility, job autonomy, and organisational social support. Multivariate ordinary least square linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the aforementioned telecommuting variables and levels of perceived stress while controlling for each of the independent variables and telecommuting intensity. Results: The mean sample age was 32.3 (SD = 7.41) and 66.7% of the sample were females. Participants came from eight different social service sectors, and the majority were in direct practice. Family-to-work conflict and work-to-family conflict were found to be positively associated with perceived stress. However, no statistically significant associations were found between perceived stress and ethical responsibility, job autonomy and organisational social support respectively after controlling for all other independent variables and telecommuting intensity. Conclusion: Findings suggest that promoting work-life integration may be beneficial in alleviating stress during telecommuting. For example, policymakers may consider allowing social workers to determine their own flexible working hours when telecommuting or providing alternative venues for those who lack dedicated telecommuting spaces. Future research should further explore the significance of household characteristics such as number of dependants and presence of domestic helpers. They may also adopt a pretest–posttest model to further isolate the effects of telecommuting.