Managers in remote work and their job crafting strategies in the COVID-19 pandemic

Gestores em trabalho remoto e suas estratégias de redesenho do trabalho na pandemia Covid-19

Abstract

Purpose:

This article aims to understand the experiences of managers employed in Brazilian subsidiaries of international companies who worked remotely as a mandatory measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originality/value:

The sudden pandemic outbreak forced many companies to enact remote work as an emergency measure without adequate adaptation to the physical environment or family dynamics. The present study explores the experiences of a group of professionals who were privileged to adjust their work to balance professional results with preserving their own mental health and personal well-being. To this end, the freedom to employ principles consistent with job crafting proved essential, which is why it should also be considered in the cases of workers whose autonomy is more restricted.

Design/methodology/approach:

Qualitative phenomenological research. Dialogical encounters were held with the guiding question: “What was/is it like for you to work remotely during the pandemic?”. Comprehensive narratives were used and elaborated after each encounter as a metho-dological strategy. In the end, a synthesis narrative containing the revealed elements was elaborated.

Findings:

The results are organized into four axes: 1. the challenges of adapting to the unknown; 2. establishing boundaries and structures for work and personal life; 3. from chaotic interactions to intentional virtual collaboration; and 4. discoveries in the personal sphere and the role of the manager, which indicate that organizational support, autonomy, and flexibility facilitated the redesign of activities. It is concluded that organizations that encourage job crafting practices and provide support to flexible work, can generate benefits to the business and well-being of employees.

Keywords
remote work; telework; job crafting; managers; phe-nomenology

Resumo

Objetivo:

Este artigo visa compreender as experiências de gestores de empresas internacionais com filiais no Brasil, que trabalharam remotamente como medida compulsória durante a pandemia da Covid-19.

Originalidade/valor:

A eclosão repentina da pandemia fez com que muitas empresas decretassem o trabalho remoto como medida emergencial, sem a adequada adaptação do ambiente físico ou das dinâmicas familiares. O presente estudo explora as experiências de um grupo de profissionais que teve o privilégio de poder ajustar seu trabalho a fim de equilibrar resultados profissionais com a preservação da própria saúde mental e bem-estar pessoal. Para tanto, a liberdade para empregar princípios condizentes com o Redesenho do Trabalho mostrou-se essencial, razão pela qual deve ser considerada também nos casos dos trabalhadores cuja autonomia é mais restrita.

Design/metodologia/abordagem:

Pesquisa qualitativa de natureza fenomenológica. Foram realizados encontros dialógicos com a pergunta norteadora: “como está sendo/como foi desenvolver seu trabalho de maneira remota durante a pandemia?”. Utilizaram-se como estratégia metodológica narrativas compreensivas elaboradas após cada encontro. Ao final, foi elaborada uma narrativa síntese contendo os elementos revelados.

Resultados:

Os resultados estão organizados em quatro eixos: 1. os desafios para a adaptação ao desconhecido; 2. o estabelecimento de limites e estruturas para o trabalho e vida pessoal; 3. das interações caóticas à colaboração virtual intencional; e 4. as descobertas no âmbito pessoal e no papel de gestor, indicam que apoio organizacional, autonomia e flexibilidade facilitaram o redesenho das atividades. Conclui-se que organizações que estimulam práticas para Redesenho do Trabalho, fornecendo suporte ao trabalho flexível, podem gerar benefícios ao negócio e bem-estar dos funcionários.

Palavras-chave
trabalho remoto; teletrabalho; redesenho do trabalho; gestores; fenomenologia

INTRODUCTION

The work performed in the domestic environment is an old theme, characterized by the informality and autonomy of workers (Dias & Faria, 2020; Lavinas et al., 2019). The agriculture-based craft at-home modality gradually transformed into the mass production industrial model with controlled activities during the 20th century (Azevedo et al., 2015). Between the decades of 1950 and 1980, technological and scientific innovations associated with an economic crisis and the increasing number of administrative workers demanded new work formats such as teleworking (Allen et al., 2015) or telecommuting, both of them characterized by the use of technology for work and decentralization of activities. There would be gains for everyone, such as reductions in infrastructure costs for the employer and satisfaction for the employee due to flexibility and savings in travel time (Santos & Costa, 2022; Silva et al., 2015).

According to the 2017 Brazilian legislation, telework is the adequate nomenclature for remote work using technology (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho [CLT], 2017). The International Labor Organization (OIT, 2020) classifies telework as a category of remote work in which teleworkers perform their activities outside the employer’s facilities and use technology as a means.

Before the pandemic, this labor modality had already been adopted, often without contractual formality (Silva et al., 2015), and offered by companies as a benefit to employees. However, despite providing workers flexibility, since activities can be performed anywhere with infrastructure for technology, there is potential harm to the relationship between work and personal life (Field & Chan, 2018). Professional tasks can extrapolate the limits of the contracted journey, invade private life, and take up a space of exploration and precariousness of work (Durães et al., 2021; Souza, 2021).

In spite of the popularization of telework, there is not sufficient research to propose a unified definition of the theme (Allen et al., 2015). In Brazil, specific legislation for telework came about only through the 2017 Labor Reform (CLT, 2017), in which the characteristics of the contractual relation and company obligations were described, such as expenses with infrastructure and technological equipment, as well as health care and ergonomics. In 2022, the revision of the law promised wider legal security to teleworkers regarding the formal work contract and workload (CLT, 2022).

According to the Fundação Instituto de Administração (FIA, 2020), 46% of Brazilian companies’ employees occupied positions eligible for remote work, and 41% adopted such practices in answer to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The necessity of social distancing caused an abrupt change of offices to improvised domestic spaces overlapping with household chores and work demands (Cabral & Alperstedt, 2021; Chen, 2021). The loss of interaction with colleagues and a sense of loneliness were also charac-teristics of the mandatory remote work conditions during the pandemic and its negative impact on these people (Durães et al., 2021; Souza, 2021). Proxi-mity with family generated ambivalent experiences, both negative and positive (Tušl et al., 2021), and anxiety also had a catalyst role in self-awareness and self-transcendence processes (Flotman, 2021).

The balance of work and personal life was threatened by the perception of workload increase, in which the supposed flexibility of remote work should be compensated by an increase in activities (Molino et al., 2020), as well as a demand for fast responses and availability (Dias & Faria, 2020; Silva et al., 2020). Women with small children and limited support for domestic care are among the most affected group of teleworkers, which has imposed a double work journey routine on them. (Rossini & Messias, 2022; Undurraga et al., 2021). Hence, it became imperative for many male and female workers to adapt their work in this context.

Perspectives of job crafting and telework

The concept (Devotto et al., 2020; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) refers to actions initiated by people to modify aspects of their work. Such practices are not dependent on the degree of autonomy or work dynamics. They are characterized by being proactively started by individuals so their tasks meet their motivations or preferences or to deal with unfavorable situations (Tims & Bakker, 2010; Tims et al., 2013). The attitudes stemming from job crafting can be influenced by external factors, personal characteristics, social preferen-ces, and personality aspects (Berg et al., 2010; Peral & Geldenhuys, 2020).

Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) state the attitudes of reorganizing work occur in 1. physical tasks (format or the number of activities), 2. cognitive characteristics (in which people alter or find different meanings to their tasks), or 3. relational aspects (how they shape their interactions with others). This reorganization of activities intends to harmonize work with personal purpose and the individual meaning of work (Lazazzara et al., 2019).

Job crafting can also be interpreted through the model of Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) proposed by Bakker and Demerouti (2007). The JD-R is characterized by work demands that may be physical or psychological and require efforts from the individual, such as the pressure for results or volu-me of activities. On the other hand, work resources are characteristics, environmental or personal means used to diminish or balance demands, such as relationships, salary, positive feedback, and new learnings.

There is evidence of the relationship between job crafting practices and states of well-being at work and positive mental health, including in the telework format when there is the possibility of using flexibility and conciliating personal activities (Paschoal et al., 2022; Devotto et al., 2020). However, it is possible that the stress associated with a sudden shift to the remote model during the pandemic altered this experience (Paschoal et al., 2022). The volume of activities associated with social distancing may have been perceived as work demand, while personal aspects and perception of support from the organization represent resources (Barbieri et al., 2021), as well as self-discipline (Wang et al., 2021), autonomy, work environment, support from colleagues and managers, clear communication, and few interruptions (Liu et al., 2022; Ipsen et al., 2022; Mishima-Santos et al., 2021; Stempel & Siestrup, 2022).

Considering the pandemic situation and the phenomenon of mandatory remote work, the present study sought to understand the experiences of managers employed in Brazilian subsidiaries of international companies who worked remotely as a mandatory measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

A qualitative study of a phenomenological nature, proposed by Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), was chosen to comprehend participants’ experiences. In the phenomenological understanding, it is through experience that humans create a personal meaning of lived events, either physical or abstract (Ales Bello, 2006). The study obeyed all ethical guidelines and required research procedures, such as approval by the Committee of Ethics for Research with Human Beings in January 2022 (CAAE 53121221.5.0000.5481) and resolutions no. 466/12 and no. 510/16 of the National Health Council. Along with the Term of Free and Informed Consent document, the Declaration of Responsibility, Commitment, and Confidentiality document was added, according to Law no. 13.709/2018 (CLT, 2018) of data protection for scientific research.

Participants

The group of research participants was composed of ten professionals, five women and five men, Brazilian employees of international corporations with subsidiaries in Brazil that had already performed administrative and management activities in global teams before the pandemic as people or project leaders. The average age was 41 years (SD = 5.56), and the average work experience was 22 years (SD = 6.95). All participants have post-gradua-tion degrees and live in the state of São Paulo.

In addition to Portuguese, all participants used either English, Spanish, or both to communicate with their teams. As participation criteria, these professionals must have remained in mandatory remote work modality for a minimum period of six months during the coronavirus pandemic.

Participants were selected from professional contact networks and third-party indications. Pseudonyms were chosen by themselves and contributed to enlighten elements of their experiences. Table 1 presents participants’ personal and family characteristics.

Table 1
Participants’ personal information

Pseudonym	Gender	Age	Marital status	Children	Workload distribution1
Cora	F	32	married	0	R100, P0
Paulo	M	37	married	3	R100, P0
Joana	F	42	married	1	R40, P60
Valores	F	50	married	0	R10, P90
Juliana	F	37	married	2	R60, P40
Lauro	M	46	married	2	R40, P60
Gabriel	M	40	married	1	R90, P10
Samuel	M	45	married	2	R40, P60
Mudança	F	36	married	1	R40, P60
David	M	45	married	1	R100, P0

Note
• ¹
  State and country;
• ²
  Approximate percentual distribution of weekly workload, in which R = remote, and P = in-person.

Table 2 presents the participants’ work conditions, highlighting total professional experience and experience interacting with remote teams. The type of leadership refers to the role of people managers (if they received direct reports from teams) or project managers (if they led teams indirectly in a temporary project or by their expertise in a determined area). Participants also estimated the usual distribution of weekly use of foreign languages (in an approximate percentage of the time). Most speak three languages, with Portuguese being used on average 48% of the time.

Table 2
Participants’ professional data

Pseud.	Position	PE1	RE2	Tipe3	Interaction	Countries/Regions	Languages4
Cora	Leader LA5	10 y	4 y	People	40-45 people	LA, USA, Europe	P20, S70, 10
Paulo	Global Expert	14 y	2 y	Projects	20 people	LA, USA, Europe	P30, S20, E50
Joana	LA Director	22 y	10 y	People	30 people	LA, USA, Europe	P30, S40, E30
Valores	Commercial Dir.	36 y	16 y	People	250 people	Global	P60, S10, E30
Juliana	Manager	17 y	15 y	Projects	20 people	BR, USA, Europe	P90, E10
Lauro	Global Manager	28 y	10 y	People	35 people	USA, Asia	P90, E10
Gabriel	Global President	22 y	13 y	People	20 people	LA, Europe	P50, S30, E20
Samuel	Region Vice-Pres.	25 y	14 y	People	40 people	Americas	P50, S10, E40
Mudança	LA Manager	22 y	14 y	People	60-80 people	LA, Africa, Eur., Asia	P20, S40, E40
David	Regional Manag.	25 y	15 y	People	22 people	LA and Canada	P40, S10, E50

Note
• ¹
  Total time of professional experience (in years);
• ²
  time of experience in interaction with remote teams (in years);
• ³
  tipe of leadership;
• ⁴
  distribution of foreign language weekly use (in an approximate percentage of the time), in which P = Portuguese, S = Spanish, and E = English;
• ⁵
  LA: Latin America.

This research was developed in six execution stages, as described in Figure 1.

Figure 1
Research execution stages

Data collection

The comprehensive narratives were the option of choice as the metho-dological strategy, as it is grounded in Edmund Husserl’s descriptive pheno-menology, having empathy as an essential element for comprehending others-’ experiences (Brisola et al., 2017). Thus, comprehensive narratives are elaborated after dialogical encounters with the participants, stemming from understanding and interpreting participants’ experiences shared in a relation based on openness and acceptance. There are no written or recorded audio registers of these encounters, and the narrative results from the intersubjective experience between the researcher and the participant (Fadda & Cury, 2019).

Participants were approached through a cellphone messaging app or e-mail, and the research objectives and participation procedures were presented. The encounters occurred from March to June 2022 and took a virtual format through communication platforms with an average duration of 60 minutes. As depicted in the methodological strategy, there was no structured script but a guiding question at the beginning of each encounter: “What was/is it like for you to work remotely during the pandemic?”. Additional questions were used according to the evolution of the dialogue to ensure comprehension of the reported content.

Based on the assumption that in-person and remote meetings have different characteristics, the decision was to have all encounters online. Although this can be considered a limitation of this study, it stays true to the idea of going back to the things themselves. As Vieira and Rivera (2012) argue, participants’ existential condition is comprehended conjointly from direct contact with their reality. Opportunities and challenges related to “at a distance” qualitative research include attention to ethical aspects, data protection, and choice of adequate platforms (Lobe et al., 2020), which did not incur problems due to the participants’ socioeconomic and educational profiles.

Data analysis

Narratives were built and thoroughly revised to reflect and analyze the meanings captured during the encounters. The Labor Psychology and Career Research Group from the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas [PUC-Campinas]) also took part in the revision to support understanding of the experiences. After com-pleting this stage, each participant had a new encounter for validation and occasional adjustments.

After the validation of the individual narratives, a synthesis narrative was elaborated, containing the main elements of the revealed phenomenon; its structure was comprised of the most common components, peculiarities, and contradictions. Therefore, the criteria for the construction of the text were the meanings expressed so the synthesis could compile a general picture of those people’s experiences. The four structural axes of the phe-nomenon emerged from the reading and re-reading the synthesis narrative (Ales Bello, 2006; Brisola et al., 2017). They were analyzed afterward under the perspective of the job crafting theory and the JD-R model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Chinelato et al., 2015; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). It is worth mentioning that all research stages were executed based on the consensus of two or more group researchers.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The present study aimed to comprehend the experiences of managers of international companies with subsidiaries in Brazil that worked remotely as a mandatory measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their experiences were organized into four structural phenomenon axes, which guide the discussion of the results. They are 1. challenges of adapting to the unknown; 2. establishment of boundaries and structures for work and personal life; 3. from chaotic interactions to intentional virtual collaboration; and 4. discoveries in the personal sphere and the manager role.

Fragments of individual narratives illustrate the axes’ content, including mentions of participants’ speeches, indicated between quotes. As previously mentioned, the encounters were not recorded; however, the first version of each narrative was elaborated immediately after its conclusion, which allowed the registration of striking sentences, often with greater significance. It is important to note that each participant had access to the narrative content concerning their experience and could validate it and eventually correct it if needed.

Challenges of adapting to the unknown

All participants were already familiar with the remote work modality, which implied virtual interaction with globally distributed teams. They had the possibility of working with local teams and deciding how or where to work, but suddenly, they were forced to start working exclusively in a remote format, according to the FIA (2020) survey. The mandatory character of social distancing determinations limited people’s choices and imposed the need to juggle different personal and work demands simultaneously, just like many workers experienced. This workers’ profile, however, places them in a very privileged position when it comes to reaction possibilities (Devotto et al., 2020; Lazazzara et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) and adjustment of the relation between demands and resources (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Berg et al., 2010; Tims & Bakker, 2010).

The exclusively virtual interaction evidenced the lack of remote communication and team collaboration abilities, compromising important work conditions (Barbieri et al., 2021; Mishima-Santos et al., 2021; Molino et al., 2020). Associated with the fear of infection and death, as well as the frus-tration related to forced reclusion, the dedication to work and connection time increased, which is a typical trait of workers who are highly engaged (Spagnoli et al., 2020).

The flexible nature of remote work was not fully utilized by participants in the early stages of social distancing due to mobility limitations, the challenges in virtual interaction, and the sudden loss of in-person contact. The feeling of overload took place in virtual interaction, due to the difficulty of finding connected colleagues and consequent delay in decision-making, loss of body language cues, too many meetings, and constant interruptions. This set of factors represented an important imbalance in demands, that increased, and resources, that were significantly restricted (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Berg et al., 2010; Tims & Bakker, 2010).

Before the pandemic, if someone messaged me through chat and I didn’t respond, they would come to my desk. During the pandemic, as people were remote, it was uncertain if they were available (Lauro).

Paulo says that at the beginning of the pandemic, the challenges were bigger as he didn’t have a proper setup at home. With everyone in the living room, his daughters had to attend online classes while he had to juggle work, monitor their activities, and also play with painting.

Before the initial chaotic scenario, the adoption of job crafting practices influenced how people adapted to the phenomenon, characterized by a reactive type (Lazazzara et al., 2019). To deal with the high volume of demands, blocking the schedule for focused moments at work, and esta-blishing time for personal care and family were resources used by the participants, and exemplify the first of three types of job crafting strategies: actions of task crafting (Devotto et al., 2020; Lazazzara et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001).

The perception of organizational support also influenced the rhythm of adaptation to the phenomenon. Participants who reported manager support, organization initiatives for well-being, good work conditions, and colleague collaboration adapted faster to the phenomenon, aside from referring to more caring attitudes toward others, in accordance to Liu et al. (2022) and Mishima-Santos et al. (2021).

Juliana says meetings with the business teams were a relief and one time, she found a text on Instagram entitled “Where you are at sea,” an analogy of emotional states about how a person would be at the sea: drowning, floating, swimming, etc. The business director used it in a meeting so the team could share how they felt during the pandemic and find comfort in colleagues’ stories.

Among the learnings within this period, Mudança highlights that the need for mutual support was more intense and relevant to her, the availability to listen and help the team solve problems, the company’s actions for supporting employees, and the informal moments of connection. She proudly displays a framed page (which I cannot read). She tells me it’s the result of a survey made by the company with Latin American employees about leaders, in which she was recognized twice for her behavior as a leader. “I know it’s symbolic, but it is very important to me; it’s not about the money.”

When there was a perception of hostility and feelings of abandonment on the company and manager side, participants were also actively searching for adverse demand reduction resources; however, it was an obstacle to successful adaptation. These results indicate that, despite job crafting attitudes stemming from employees, the perception of organizational and manager support is essential to encourage such practices (Cabral & Alperstedt, 2021; Chen, 2021).

Joana reports the abusive behaviors of her former manager: “He used to send messages at 7 a.m. to all directors requiring everyone to connect at 7:15. He yelled at everyone in the meeting; my daughter had online classes in the room next door, and she heard everything” […] she says she had no support from the colleagues at the time. She reports everyone would be quiet during the manager’s verbal attacks on her and then called to check how she was feeling. Now, she is able to rebuild her self-confidence, but during the first six months after she left the company, she still felt the effects of that abusive behavior. “In six months, he managed to undermine 20 years of experience”, Joana says. Relieved, she says her current employer company has a completely different, much more supportive approach, without all the vanity found in the previous job.

Establishment of boundaries and structures for work and personal life

Professionals in high hierarchical positions benefit from higher autonomy and flexibility, which is also provided by remote work (Tims & Bakker, 2010). Nevertheless, privileges common to executive positions were already offset by external expectations and those of the professionals to act promptly, which compromised boundaries between personal life and work (Dias & Faria, 2020; Silva et al., 2020). This aspect was observed in the present study.

The participants were intentionally composed of 50% men and 50% women since gender could imply different experiences, as Rossini and Messias (2022) and Undurraga et al. (2021) reported. That, however, was not observed in their experiences, perhaps because of their socioeconomic and educational condition.

Men and women manifested similar discomfort regarding how much work would interfere with their lives and sought to impose boundaries to preserve their mental health. For example, the decision to refuse to take calls in the middle of the night illustrates the paradoxical feeling of enslavement that technological flexibility entails (Field & Chan, 2018).

Mudança recalls one of these colleagues called on her cellphone at three in the morning, and it was already late at night in the colleague’s country. “I said I couldn’t do anything at that time, that I would help him the next day.” When she realized she needed to impose rules and boundaries for work, she said, “When I started arguing with someone and altering my voice too much, I realized that wasn’t me.”

Participants were active in identifying ways to craft their tasks in other spheres, such as taking part in support groups, proximity with family, working in different places, moving houses, delegating activities, decreasing work intensity, or changing jobs to obtain more life quality. These examples can be interpreted in the JD-R model and actions of crafting at the task, relationship, and cognitive levels (Devotto et al., 2020; Lazazzara et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001).

“We went to a house in another town, and it was much more peaceful; we took walks at the end of the day. I got my dogs, closed the apartment, and left the city.” (Valores)

Paulo rebuilds his routine and says he is trying not to get too stuck to the rigid beginning and end of working hours. He practices physical exercises in the morning, starts working at 9 a.m., and at 6 p.m., his daughters let him know it’s time to stop, which he thinks is very good for setting boundaries.

The gradual perception that boundaries of private life had been extrapolated by labor and stimulated by challenging experiences in the pandemic led to the search for group support activities, exchanges of work good practices, self-care, and proximity to family (Tušl et al., 2021). Initiating personal projects might have shifted the vision of an initially chaotic work to a more valued alternative of flexible work; however, that is not the reality for all workers, not even those in positions eligible for remote work in companies (Berg et al., 2010; Tims & Bakker, 2010).

Samuel says he had to adapt; he organized his work by sorts of activities and planned breaks every 30 minutes to preserve his uninterrupted focus periods. Aside from that, he restricted cellphone use during working hours and declined nonpriority meetings to avoid distractions.

The JD-R model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Tims & Bakker, 2010) makes it possible to notice a pressing need for controlling demands and seeking resources early in the pandemic, aiming at maintaining physical and emotional stability. However, job crafting implied a gradual revision of how they related to work and the meaning of their activities (Stempel & Siestrup, 2022), focusing on well-being since remote work might threaten personal quality of life (Silva et al., 2020).

From chaotic interactions to intentional virtual collaboration

Virtual interaction was already common to all participants but not the only possibility; there were opportunities in which geographically close teams were presently gathered for creativity and ideation moments. For such activities, the in-office modality was more frequent. The advent of the pandemic put at risk the sense of belonging and collectivity at work (Liu et al., 2022; Silva et al., 2020).

The participants recurrently described the change to mandatory remote work as a chaotic and loss-of-control-inducing situation. Aside from the need to learn about the technology used, it was necessary to schedule conversations that otherwise would have been informal, to trust people would fulfill their commitments, or to find colleagues who were not connected. It is about a culture change still to be matured with the active participation of leaders (Molino et al., 2020), but that is still very premature.

At the beginning of virtual meetings, people talked at the same time; it was also difficult to find free schedules in everybody’s agenda and conciliating time (David).

Regarding the sudden change to exclusively virtual interactions, Juliana mentions: “I really missed being with people to know what was going on, something very difficult in the virtual environment.” When asked about its consequences, she says moments between meetings, informal conversations when having a coffee, and comments after the meetings were no longer possible. “I couldn’t see their expressions, hear side conversations, intervene, or talk discretely when someone made an inadequate comment-like, hey, it isn’t nice to talk like that.”

Feeling tired at the end of the day stemmed from trying to emulate the organizational environment in remote work, in which communication was flawed (either by lack or excess), and the lack of empathy with domestic reality was present. The evident difficulty in adjusting paradigms consonant to the imposed reality generated great strain on the participants (Dias & Faria, 2020; Molino et al., 2020; Silva et al., 2020).

Working virtually requires learning either for flexibility, which demands discipline and organization for the comprehension that remote interactions must be intentional, for they do not occur as spontaneously as in-person contact (Chen, 2021; Wang et al., 2021).

Gabriel says after the first difficult months, the encouragement of integration between people made the group stronger and more independent. That made the delegation of activities easier, and he didn’t have to be continually involved in the decision-making process. Aside from business content, they promoted happy hours and meetings to share exquisite talents. “I got to know people’s peculiarities I had no idea about.”

David says he was already very adapted (to remote work) due to his previous work experience and that the team formed a robust work group to implement a new employee service strategy. This experience allowed him to treat inconvenient events more patiently and strengthen the team to promote such change. He emphasizes the preoccupation related to the employee experience in virtual service. That is, people should receive humanized treatment, and the employee on service should interact with the human being on the other side of the computer, going beyond problem resolution and mechanized answers.

As previously explored, boundaries imposed to such demands as constant interruptions, contacts out of working hours, excessive meetings, and high workload allowed arrangements that helped provide balance and well-being. Reports of job crafting actions focused on the organization of activities and interactions, delegation, work environment change, and journey limit. If Wrzesniewski and Dutton’s (2001) approach is considered, these crafting actions will fall into the task sphere, facilitating team collaboration.

We, as Latins, prefer in-person interaction; other countries are already more used to working in the home office, so for critical and creative moments, we prefer to be together (Samuel).

Concerning the relational dimension of job crafting, this aspect might have been little explored by the participants. The back-to-the-office movement allowed teams to be gathered in person for teamwork, which was already provoked by some, as virtual interactions were still passed over concerning in-person contact. It is important to remind the relevance of competent management in leadership, culture, feedback, dialogue, recognition, and support (Liu et al., 2022; Mishima-Santos et al., 2021; Molino et al., 2020) by remote or in-person means.

Discoveries in the personal sphere and the role of the manager

During the dialogical encounters, participants could express their experiences as the hindsight of phases experienced in mandatory remote work since the beginning of 2020. In general, but peculiar to personal circumstances, all of them went through initial stages of adaptation, the need to impose boundaries for work, and the organization of their labor dynamics (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Berg et al., 2010; Devotto et al., 2020; Lazazzara et al., 2019; Tims & Bakker, 2010; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001).

There was questioning about existing behavior standards, such as high dedication to work. Reviewing priorities, such as following children’s growth more closely and questioning the meaning of their careers in organizations, were lines present in the narratives. These perceptions were also influenced by the risk and fear context the pandemic brought, which might have stimulated personal growth (Flotman, 2021).

Cora says she thinks she is discovering a new side to herself, and she is more introverted. She comments on her recent preferences for smaller groups, that she always enjoyed being alone, and that there is social pressure at the company, as if she had to be friends with other people and attend the happy hour events.

Regarding the manager role, it was observed participants who managed to provide support to the team during the early phases of mandatory remote work, either in activities or emotional support, perceived their teams as more engaged. They referred to higher satisfaction and pride in their leading action. Despite the challenges for virtual and crisis management, empathy dedicated to teams during this period created a positive environment for people and learning that strengthened leadership ability (Liu et al., 2022; Ipsen et al., 2022; Mishima-Santos et al., 2021; Molino et al., 2020).

Gabriel says that, as leader of the company, he insisted on participating in meetings, knowing how people were, and helping them face the first months of the pandemic. “Some people had difficulty adapting, interacting, not everyone had a proper environment to work at home, and others didn’t like it,” he explains. “We created meetings to discuss projects, share best practices between the groups, and promote learning. Today, they are more independent, and I don’t need always to be present.”

Mudança says that, beyond the pandemic, there was a company determination for modifications in the business strategy and potential layoffs. She says she made an important effort to listen to the team’s anxieties, seeking to be transparent and help as she could: “It isn’t easy because I’m their leader and I worry, but I also represent the company; I always need to seek this balance between the roles.”

The speeches of participants in a reflection and learning format from personal experiences with the phenomenon and the pandemic refer to job crafting attitudes related to the cognitive aspect (Devotto et al., 2020; Lazazzara et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Reports about work-related posture, appreciation of personal and familiar interests, and the meaning of their careers were some transformed aspects of these people’s vision.

In my area, we don’t accept meetings before nine, between noon and 2 p.m., nor after 5 p.m. […]; before the pandemic, I would leave my eldest son at school at 6 a.m. and pick him up at 6:30 p.m., 12 hours later. Today, I follow their lives and don’t want to miss it anymore (Juliana).

Joana says that after this episode (of moral abuse by her former manager), she still holds scars but could take out some learnings. Recalling her trajectory, she says she always liked the corporate world and has been a highly dedicated professional. Today, she is acting differently, thinking about career options outside the corporate world and not engaging intensely in its activities.

In a wider scope, they reinforce the need to rethink Human Resources policies that begin to consider new work realities (Barbieri et al., 2021) that seek to comprehend the singularity of people involved (Peral & Geldenhuys, 2020). The adoption of job crafting strategies, if applied widely and strategically, can promote better well-being conditions in remote work environments (Stempel & Siestrup, 2022).

CONCLUSIONS

This study aimed to understand the experiences of managers of international companies with subsidiaries in Brazil who were in remote work as a mandatory measure due to the coronavirus pandemic. In examining the experiences and practices adopted by the participants in the light of the job crafting concepts, this research contributes to 1. identifying the elements that emerged from these experiences, 2. how and in which the participants used situations job crafting practices, and 3. which factors, personal or organizational, seem to have had more influence over the perception of experiences and job crafting practices. It is possible to declare that fomenting such crafting practices and intentional organizational assistance associated with autonomy and flexibility may be beneficial to workers’ well-being and will support new work models and formats.

The autonomy inherent to participants’ executive positions was an important element for job crafting actions. However, these actions occurred after they experienced the harmful effects of prioritizing work activities. They had the opportunity to reorganize their work in response to unexpected challenges and reflect on boundaries between professional and personal life; they also had to relearn how to interact with their team and learn more about themselves.

Such actions, however, could have been performed far before. One might think that a culture rooted in an industrial and secular model does not cons-titute a fertile environment for innovation and redesign activities. Such factors lead to a reflection on the role of companies and managers in stimu-lating activities of this nature. It is necessary to enable a proper and safe environment for such exercise, strengthening trust relations, autonomy stimulus, guidance, and professional support.

Over the reflections provoked by this study and the appreciation of flexi-bility enabled by remote work sits the doubt about continuing the job crafting actions initiated by the participants. Considering the movement back to in-person activities, it is pertinent to question if these attitudes were effectively incorporated, especially regarding flexibility and work autonomy.

It is undeniable that these experiences affected this group of workers but the experience of other hierarchical groups in remote work during the pandemic was potentially different, especially of those subordinates to journey control. Not all professionals in positions eligible for remote work enjoy the autonomy and flexibility of companies’ high executives. Therefore, it evidenced the opportunity of widening the studies on flexible work for different hierarchical levels, as well as how to develop good practices. People must learn to work in this format so they can feel safe and productive.

The limitations of this research fall on focusing on the experiences of a specific profile of professionals who work in international corporations, share similar characteristics, and are geographically situated in the same region of the country. The methodological choice also implies limitations as, despite allowing profound comprehension of the phenomenon participants experienced, it did not investigate organizational practices. A quantitative research method with instruments such as the Job Crafting Behaviors Scale could provide data for comprehension of both professionals’ behavior and organizational practices.

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Edited by

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-chief

Fellipe Silva Martins

Associated editor

Maria Luisa Mendes Teixeira

Technical support

Gabriel Henrique Carille

EDITORIAL PRODUCTION

Publishing coordination

Jéssica Dametta

Editorial intern

Bruna Silva de Angelis

Language editor

Bardo Editorial (Andrew Benson and Irina Migliari)

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  04 Oct 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  09 Mar 2023
• Accepted
  26 July 2023