Linking this to the concept of work-life balance, past research studies specify that in a WFH setting, it may be impractical for a software engineer to switch off the laptop at the end of the work shift and transition to personal life in a home-based working arrangement, making it harder for them to achieve work-life balance.įurther considering the Information Technology (IT) industry In Sri Lanka, during April–May 2020, its percentage of the establishments of those who were in full operation was at 10.16%, only being second to the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry. Hence, it means that they have the possibility to practice WFH for the foreseeable future. The effect of the relationship between WFH and Work-life balance is much more challenging, from the perspective of software engineers, due to the reason that they can fully attend their job duties, remaining at home, if relevant resources are supplied. Past studies elaborate that, the capacity of a specific worker to balance the two domains may vary depending on various factors such as workload factors, family circumstances, conditions, and the worker’s talents. Many past researchers emphasize that telecommuting or WFH had blurred the boundaries between work and life, and employees find it difficult to demarcate the boundaries and times of work and life, when WFH. This concept highlighted a very close connection with the practice of “Work-life balance,” due to the crossover between ‘work’ and ‘life’ domains, whilst WFH. During Covid-19, it was practiced as where the work domain is set out in the context of one’s home itself which ensures the safety of citizens and restricts commuting to control contagion. Golden defines WFH as a work method that comprises working away from a traditional corporate headquarters for a certain period and using technology as needed to complete tasks. As such, the concept of WFH emerged as the best solution to be practiced amidst Covid-19, to support the continuation of business operations, even in the context of Sri Lanka. When government-imposed measures to limit hyperinflation, millions of individuals across the globe were compelled to Work from Home (WFH). With this situation, even in Sri Lanka almost every firm had to shut down either permanently or temporarily. Adhering to health precautions, many workers did not report to work, hence firms’ operations were on halt. The widespread of this pandemic disrupted both economic and social activities of almost all countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak a global health emergency on January 30, 2020, and a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Further, considering IT industry’s significant contribution towards Sri Lanka’s economic growth amidst Covid-19, results of this study would be high-yielding to indirectly succor IT-services-supported economic growth amidst the pandemic-driven hardships in Sri Lanka. Study findings will also contribute to software industry personnel and policymakers in Sri Lanka as well as other developing countries, to establish effective strategies in favor of software engineers who WFH. Distinctive findings of this study would primarily be fruitful for software engineers to dive into a balanced state of work and life not only during Covid-19 but in future too. Thereby the study infers that, sound support and trust extended by supervisors and a designated distraction-free workspace as measures to demarcate the boundary of work and life. Study results revealed that ‘supervisor’s trust and support’ and the ‘individual workspace,’ have a significant impact on work-life balance, while ‘working conditions,’ ‘possibility to access the organization’s networks’ and ‘number of children’ have no such significant impact. The study undertook a quantitative approach by collecting primary data through a questionnaire from 384 participants, based on simple random sampling, and analyzing collected data based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), using Smart PLS 3.3.9 software. Only a very limited researches have shed light on this context, thereby this study would contribute to fill the empirical gap. Since software engineers have a possibility of permanently adapting into WFH, the objective of this study is to unveil factors which would have a significant impact on the work-life balance of software engineers in Sri Lanka, while WFH. The paradigm shifts of conventional office spaces for virtual workspaces which practiced Work from Home (WFH) due to Covid-19, created a serious change in the lifestyles of employees, due to the overlap of ‘work’ and ‘life’ domains in one’s life.
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