Work virtualization during the COVID-19 Pandemic: evaluation of the experiences of servers at a Federal Institution of Higher Education

Abstract

The aid of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has provided new ways of working in organizations, among them teleworking. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this work modality was adopted by several public agencies and private companies so as not to interrupt their activities completely. Thus, this research aims to evaluate the perceptions of employees regarding the exceptional implementation of the telework regime in a Federal Institution of Higher Education (IFES) regarding the advantages and/or disadvantages in the personal, organizational and social spheres; and to verify the feasibility of implementing a Telework Management Program at IFES. The strategy adopted was the case study of an exploratory qualitative approach. The data were collected through interviews conducted with 06 servers from among the 15 sectors classified as essential in the IFES Contingency Plan. The results were assessed by the Bardin Content Analysis and identified that initially the deployment of telework was not perceived in a positive way, however, after the adaptation period, the interviewees pointed out gains such as flexibility, improvement in quality of life, productivity, better family relationship, time saving with no need for commuting, and motivation. In the view of the participants, it is viable to implement telework definitively, as long as it occurs in a planned manner and does not dispense with in-person work. The ICTs, increasingly present, and in evidence during the pandemic, have allowed the Public Administration a new opportunity to transcend the paradigm of the culture of bureaucracy through innovation.