Monitoring Remote Workers Productivity in Institutions of Higher Learning: A Case of the University of Venda

Abstract

This study evaluates the process of monitoring the performance and productivity of staff working remotely amid the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has profound impact on how different institutions operate, especially on ensuring effective performance management of employees working remotely. Despite all odds, some workers continue working remotely during these extraordinary circumstances. There is a need to acknowledge that the world has changed and that these changes could last for some time, and perhaps even more permanently. A sample of 80 and 10 participants for quantitative and qualitative, respectively, was chosen to fully represent the staff. The data collection methods included interviews and questionnaires with selected staff. The Convenience Sampling Method was used to select respondents amongst staff members assigned to work remotely based on the fact that they were either sharing office with colleagues or had capacity to work remotely. The questionnaires were physically administered by the Researcher, whereas interviews were conducted with individual staff. Quantitative data was analysed through SPSS software, and qualitative data was analysed through themes and coding. The study revealed that some staff members are not ethical when working from home with minimal supervision. The study also revealed that when staff are not closely monitored, they tend not to focus and spend some time performing non-work-related activities which negatively affects the performance and productivity of the institution. The study further revealed that remote working led to poor quality of reports and missing of deadlines, signifying lack of proper planning.