Paradoxical Effects of Teleworking on Workers’ Well-Being in the COVID-19 Context: A Comparison Between Different Public Administrations and the Private Sector

• Author: Maude Boulet,Annick Parent-Lamarche
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00910260221102943
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260221102943

Public Personnel Management

2022, Vol. 51(4) 430 –457

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/00910260221102943

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Article

Paradoxical Effects of

Teleworking on Workers’

Well-Being in the COVID-19

Context: A Comparison

Between Different Public

Administrations and the

Private Sector

Maude Boulet1 and Annick Parent-Lamarche2

Abstract

This study examines workers’ well-being during the first lockdown by comparing

teleworkers to on-site workers across the private sector and public administrations.

Using a sample of workers (N = 471) collected online, we noted a positive association

between telework and well-being. When sector is introduced, this relationship

disappears, and public service workers display a higher level of well-being compared

with health and social service workers. The impact of teleworking differs across

sectors, highlighting the relevance of the contingent approach of human resource

management (HRM). Nonetheless, our results indicated that teleworkers who prefer

the segmentation of work–life boundaries display a lower level of well-being than those

who prefer the integration of these boundaries. For HRM practitioners of all sectors,

this finding is essential to remember after the pandemic because organizations should

avoid imposing teleworking universally. Flexibility will be required to be inclusive and

to preserve the well-being of all employees.

Keywords

subjective well-being, telework, public sector, private sector, COVID-19.

1École nationale d’administration publique, Quebec City, Québec, Canada

2Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Maude Boulet, École nationale d’administration publique, 555, Boulevard Charest East, Quebec City,

Québec, Canada G1K 9E5.

Email: maude.boulet@enap.ca

1102943PPMXXX10.1177/00910260221102943Public Personnel ManagementBoulet et al.

research-article2022

Boulet et al. 431

Introduction

COVID-19 has infected 100 million people around the world, more than 2 million of

whom have died (Worldmeter, 2021). It has undoubtedly led to an international crisis

threatening the physical health of the global population. This pandemic and the restric-

tive health measures imposed in many countries have also produced side effects on the

psychological well-being of individuals (Qiu et al., 2020; Sher, 2020; Taylor et al.,

2020; Wang et al., 2020). Recent literature has established that the pandemic has

caused a negative impact on the psychological health of health care workers (Bayham

& Fenichel, 2020; Braquehais et al., 2020; Shaukat et al., 2020).

In addition to these consequences, the pandemic has had major effects on the labor

market. In Canada, the number of employed people decreased by more than 1 million,

representing a drop of 5.3% and pushing the employment rate to 58.5%, the lowest

since 1997 (Statistics Canada, 2020a). Among those who kept their jobs, many work-

ers have been propelled toward teleworking, which required a rapid work reorganiza-

tion and a major adaptation on the part of managers and employees. According to the

2016 Canadian Census, only 7.5% of workers usually worked from home from 2015

to 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2020a). Moreover, the proportion of organizations in

Canada with less than 1% of their employees working remotely fell from 76.6% to

17.3% from February to June 2020, showing that remote working has proliferated

(Statistics Canada, 2020b).

Dingel and Neiman (2020) estimated that about 37% of jobs in the United States

can be done from home. In comparison, Deng et al. (2020) estimated the rate of jobs

in Canada that can be done from home under normal circumstances—the telework

capacity of the economy—at 38.9%. They compared this rate to the telework activity

reported at the beginning of the pandemic in the last week of March 2020 (39.1%).

They concluded that the Canadian labor market responded quickly to the pandemic by

increasing teleworking to its maximum capacity. They also found that telework capac-

ity varied across industries. In educational services, this capacity exceeds 80%; in

public administration, it is close to 60%; and in health care and social assistance, this

rate is less than 30%. Consequently, not all jobs can be done remotely, and jobs in

some sectors such as health care are less suitable to this work organization.

The public sector, known for red tape, which undermines efficiency (Pandey et al.,

2007), is often seen incompatible with adaptability, but it rather demonstrated the

opposite during the pandemic (Janssen & van der Voort, 2020). Indeed, it reacted

quickly to this shock; a few weeks after the beginning of lockdown, 70% of the civil

servants in Quebec, a Canadian province, were working remotely (Radio-Canada,

2020), but the implementation of telework was in the embryonic state (with a few pilot

projects) before this crisis (Institut d’administration publique de Québec, 2020). The

pandemic has led to a real revolution in this regard and, therefore, examining the asso-

ciation between teleworking and workers’ well-being during this period of transition

is relevant. Moreover, even if Taskin and Edwards (2007) found that teleworking

“adapts” to various environments including the public sector, by comparing two

Belgian public organizations, they showed that there were specific contingencies in