| Theme one: intrinsic facilitators of remote work
The participants experienced that there are intrinsic facilitators to remote work. These are facilitators that are essential to the nature of the job or the employee with SCI. Participants indicated that remote work engagement facilitated their work engagement. Participants found that when they worked remotely, they were able to tailor their work schedule and work tasks more autonomously. This provided more flexibility during their day to manage their health and wellness. Participants found that remote work tailored their workday in such a way that they were more productive and experienced improved wellness. Participants also expressed that when working remotely, access barriers were excluded from their daily work engagement. Moreover, participants indicated that with a tailored work approach, they were required to manage their day autonomously requiring self-discipline, accountability, and the ability to maintain work-life balance. These intrinsic facilitators assisted with the successful engagement in their work | | Subtheme | Quotation | Remote work promotes a tailored approach to work engagement
Remote work, as experienced by participants, facilitated accommodations in each employee’s work schedule and environment. Access barriers were eliminated during remote work as employees were able to tailor their environment to their individual needs. This allowed employees the freedom to manage their workdays to suit their individual requirements. Remote work allows for an increased sense of autonomy, flexibility, productivity, and easier management of health-related factors due to SCI | Experience of increased flexibility and autonomy in choosing where they work:
“I do not spend that much time like sitting in the office … employer is very reasonable in terms of where I work, ‘cause I can essentially… can work from home.” (Participant 1, line 87)
“[Remote work is] a lot more flexible. And caters for a lot of different people.” (Participant 3, lines 662–664)
This participant reflected on accessibility during in-office work and stated that although some companies are aware of universal access requirements, not all areas are accessible. During remote work, employees were able to tailor their environment to their individual needs:
“... all the companies do, make all the provisions you know for wheelchair access and all that. It’s not always that cool. You know, sometimes you get to a desk and the desk I cannot get under them, you know? So I’m sitting with my laptops over there and by the end of the day…your shoulders are so tired you...” (Participant 4, Line 83-85 0401)
Improved management of health-related factors at home:
“[For my] toilet like routine… the one thing … [that] has had the biggest impact … working from home … you do not even think about it.” (Participant 4, lines 96–98)
Improved productivity:
“I found [I] am a lot more productive …” (Participant 4, line 109) |
| Remote work requires positive personal attributes
Participants reflected that remote work requires self-discipline, accountability, and the ability to maintain work-life balance. Employees were able to manage their own work schedules more readily, and therefore, the onus of ensuring their work is completed without direct oversight, rested on the employee. Therefore, employees were required to be accountable and have the self-discipline to meet their job demands daily | Self-discipline is required:
“… working from home… not everybody can do it. Um, because it needs a certain discipline and trust as well.” (Participant 1, line 88)
“have a little bit of flexibility, but ultimately you know you need to deliver on your job” (Participant 3, line 578)
Accountability of the employees is important:
“… you commit to a deadline, you need to make sure that you are going to deliver and you need to find a routine” (Participant 3, line 690)
Maintaining work-life balance:
“I could do cool stuff as well and if I work, you know effectively during working times can also play more.” (Participant 4, line 109) |
| Theme two: extrinsic facilitators of remote work
The participants experienced that remote work provided the option of working outside geographical boundaries. They found this to be an extrinsic facilitator, having increased access to employment opportunities outside their immediate geographical area. Participants further experienced that remote work can become the future of employment given technological advancements and the remote work success they have experienced | Remote work promotes geographical access and diversity
Due to virtual option flexibility, remote work facilitates increased opportunities for work, irrespective of geographical boundaries, and has the potential to promote diversity in workplaces | Remote work can overcome geographical boundaries, thereby improving the accessibility of persons with SCI to enter a chosen work sector even if it is not accessible for a person in their geographical area:
“… more people that were not usually accessible are now accessible, so cross provincial, international…” (Participant 1, line 348)
Remote work provides opportunities for increasing diversity in the workplace:
“Our team is now global and we do not work just with our immediate team anymore.” (Participant 3, line 1116) |
| Remote work as the future of employment
Although not novel in all sectors, remote work speaks to the future of employment using technology and virtual and remote methods to complete work duties, and this can specifically be used to facilitate the engagement in work for persons with SCIs | Remote work is not novel in all sectors:
“… if you look at it from people who are running multinational businesses across the world, this [remote work] has been their norm.” (Participant 1, line 336)
“…working in a global role, so they have been OK for years with working and set up at home” (Participant 4, line 196)
“… the whole company was introduced to work from home.” (Participant 3, line 286)
Working remotely for the foreseeable future, envisioning the future of employment as remote work:
This participant indicated that when he invasions his future as an employee, he sees himself working remotely: “to work at home indefinitely” (Participant 2, line 1377)
“… all these technologies as well… having things that look a lot more real. … they investing a lot of money in virtual reality” (Participant 4, line 171) |
| Theme three: extrinsic barriers of remote work
Reflects the extrinsic barriers of remote work as experienced by participants. These extrinsic barriers indicated that remote work was not accessible to all employees and sectors of employment. Furthermore, the success of remote work was also affected by the support that an employee with an SCI received from the company as well as the management team | Employment level and sector affect employees’ access to working remotely
Reflects that remote work is not accessible to all sectors, nor all levels of employment. Employment levels affect the work duties and the level of support/supervision an employee requires. These aspects prevent employees from working remotely | “… the nature of my work could not allow me to be remote [worker].” (Participant 1, line 1463)
“[Remote work] depending on the type of work you are doing.” (Participant 4, line 198)
“The level that I’m at it is easier to negotiate [remote work]. But for someone starting out or for someone at a lower level, even mid-level, um, it’s going to be I find that it will be slightly difficult if we based on individual because there’s a lot of trust.” (Participant 1, line 95)
A participant reflects that although his current job and employment level afford him the ability to work remotely, this may not be possible for certain categories of work that require face-to-face interaction with the clients:
“My job allows me to actually work completely remotely, you know. I’m not client-facing so I do not have to go into the office to see any clients.” (Participant 3, lines 310–312) |
| Lack of employer support impacting an employee’s capacity to work remotely
Reflects that where employers do not support the employee’s individual needs nor understand the employee’s limitations, negotiating engagement in remote work as a reasonable accommodation for persons with SCI can be challenging. Furthermore, participants indicated that remote work success was affected by an inflexible or micromanagement style | “You can have the best intentions, have the confidence, have the skills, but if the organisation is not open … for other people to understand your limitations and your situations, that could be very alienating for that individual.” (Participant 1, line 129)
“It [remote work] was] very difficult ‘cause she was very, very, very micromanaging.” (Participant 3, line 230) |
| Theme four: intrinsic barriers of remote work
Participants experienced that remote work (in particular if undertaken on a full time basis) decreased social engagement. This was due to employees working in individual areas or within their homes, with virtual contact being the main form of work interaction. This proved to be a barrier to the employee’s success to work remotely. Participants reflected that the lack of social engagement lowered their motivation and occasionally made them feel despondent. This affected the quality of work. Moreover, participants experienced that remote work decreased their physical mobility as they were less mobile during the day | Remote work hampers social engagement
Reflects that engaging in remote work decreased the participants’ social engagement. Participants indicated that office work provided opportunities to practice their social skills in a more structured environment. This specifically applied to those employees who were newly diagnosed with an SCI or employees entering the workplace for the first time. Working remotely does not afford employees this practice. Moreover, remote work can also impede work culture and employee morale. Lastly, remote work can decrease the visibility of persons with SCIs in the workplace | Decreased social engagement:
“So I mean, I think the social aspect is quite a negative impact. You know, working from home ‘cause you do not have that social interaction with other people.” (Participant 3, line 147)
“You do miss the interaction with fellow people.” (Participant 2, line 1797)
“I would return back to work just for that reason… maybe once a week just to go chat to a few people … a few work friends …” (Participant 3, lines 1026–1029)
A participant reflects that in-office work drove morale and motivation, whereas with remote work, it was difficult to validate colleagues virtually:
“It also drives morale. It drives motivation in the workplace. It’s not easy to validate someone across [virtual platforms] …” (Participant 2, Line 238-244)
In-office work facilitated social engagement which serves as a confidence builder for persons with newly diagnosed SCI. In-office work, as compared to remote work, also has the potential to lessen stigma as coworkers have the opportunity to engage with persons with disabilities on a personal level:
“I think it’s actually good to get some office exposure ‘cause it forces … you going to present you think these people gonna think I’m in the wheelchair, you know? But then after a couple of years, you just think if I know my stuff. People then start seeing past that.” (Participant 4, lines 238–239).
In-office work assists with the visibility of persons with SCIs:
“You know it’s (person’s disability in the workplace) made visible to people.” (Participant 4, lines 286–288) (“It”, refers to a disability in the workplace. Therefore, the person with a disability is visible while engaging in-office work)
“You know I always love when I see other people in wheelchairs and they dressed up.” (Participants 4, line 43) |
| Subtheme 2: Remote work impacts physical mobility
Reflects that remote work engagement provides less opportunity for physical mobility, transfers as well as the need for wheelchair propulsion over long distances. Remote work thus exacerbates sedentary work | “Yeah, you definitely not as mobile as one should be. You know if you consider getting dressed … going to your car transferring into your car, driving to work … getting in the basement pushing around the office, you know pushing down to the lunch. Push into all the meeting rooms. You know the coffee stations.” (Participant 3, lines 1060–1070)
“Moving around, you know, so I suppose that’s one thing came to the office. You get more, well exercise, but these should be getting another call walking rolling to your office, getting some kind of blood flow.” (Participant 4, lines 447–448) |
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