Work From Home (WFH) during Covid-19: Perceptions of Researchers

People's employment and personal life have been shattered as a result of the pandemic (Venkatesh, 2020), much of which can be related to the abrupt transition to WFH. WFH is currently considered as a viable approach for reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection. The investigators used an online survey to discover about the researchers' perceptions of their Work from Home (WFH) experience during Covid 19. The survey's findings are based on the responses of 172 respondents (researchers). Despite some beneficial aspects of WFH, researchers' general view toward their WFH experience is still negative. 86% of the researchers are not satisfied with the progress of their research work due to WFH. Among the respondents 62.8% disagreed to work more from home after the lockdown as WFH impedes the speed of research’s research work progress (79%), decrease productivity of research work (83.7%) and hinders the development of new research skills (83.8%). Moreover, to WFH isolated the researchers from rest of their colleagues and makes them feel lonelier (75.1%) which in turn can diminish the excitement and enthusiasm of the researchers (88.4%). In general, communication among co-researchers of the research lab/team (86.1%) and communication with the Supervisor/research guide (74.4%) can be challenged by working from home and accordingly it can create difficulties in self-motivation of researchers (83.7%). Moreover, the attitude of researchers toward WFH differs significantly based on gender, marital status and position of researchers.