The Relationship Between the Impacts of Telecommuting Engagement and Employee Performance in Oil and Gas Industry in Kuantan, Pahang
Abstract
Telecommuting refers to the work option that enables telecommuters to work outside of the office. It allows telecommuters to have a direct contact with those inside and outside of the organization by using information and communication technologies. Despite the continuous effort by Malaysia’s government, the implementation and occurrence of telecommuting practice in Malaysia had not gained full support from many local companies. Consequently, the Malaysian workforce has suffered from low-level performance and poor productivity due to the lack of flexibility in task accomplishment. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate whether the impacts of telecommuting engagement (i.e. job autonomy, work-family balance, work productivity, and level of occupational stress) lead to employee’s performance. This research aims to identify the most dominant impact of telecommuting engagement that leads to the employee performance. The study has adopted a correlational research and cross-sectional survey research design to explore the relationship between variables. There were 229 respondents who practice telecommuting work arrangement. They were chosen from 11 oil and gas companies located in Kuantan, Pahang. The findings of the study had revealed that all of the telecommuting impacts which consists of the job autonomy, work-family balance, work productivity and level of occupational stress have a significant relationship with the employee performance at r = .923, p < 0.05, r = .734, p < 0.05, r = .817, p < 0.05, and r = .408, p < 005 respectively. Job autonomy was found the most dominant impact of telecommuting engagement that leads to the employee performance with r = .923, p < 0.05. The positive experiences and knowledge possessed by the telecommuters in the oil and gas industry helped to increase the level of motivation and maintain the good mental and physical state of employees. The exercise of the proper balance between the personal and professional life could guarantee the high employees’ performance among the telecommuters. Hence, it is suggested for the government to promote and develop more appropriate policies regarding telecommuting practice in Malaysia. The purpose is to enhance the level of acceptance towards the work arrangement among the local society. Moreover, the active approaches by the government can stimulate the implementation of telecommuting in this country as people will have more proper guidelines to assist the work practices. Telecommuting work arrangement helps to achieve excellent performance in an organization.
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