Abstract
Across the world, COVID-19 has driven millions of white-collar employees to work from home (WFH). Anticipated business benefits of WFH will likely compel employers to extend the work practice for several employees post-pandemic. WFH, by affecting job task execution, as well as opportunities to enhance and demonstrate capabilities, will hold implications for employee career advancement. In this context, a new model for career advancement is proposed, the competence career advancement model, comprising three cyclical stages (achieving, improving, and proving competence) based on the self-determination theory's psychological need for competence. The chapter covers job demands and resources that influence each stage of career advancement, as well as how these demands and resources are themselves affected under WFH conditions. Also discussed are the consequences of satisfaction/frustration through the stages of career advancement for worker well-being and work attitudes/outcomes. Human resource and technology practices to enable employee career advancement under WFH are suggested as well.
TopIntroduction
Physical distancing for COVID-19 urged the world towards teleworking, specifically work from home (WFH). Previous studies revealed several advantages of WFH for employees including schedule flexibility enabling work-life balance, saving on commute time and cost, and fewer distractions at work (e.g., Kurland & Bailey, 1999; Mello, 2007). Employers also benefit including from greater employee productivity and motivation, access to a wider talent pool, along with lower absenteeism, turnover, and operating costs (e.g., Eurofound and International Labour Organization [ILO], 2017; Kurland & Bailey, 1999; Mello, 2007; Raghuram, 2014). Even under the pandemic-driven sudden shift, WFH has allowed most employees to retain or improve their productivity (e.g., Bernstein, Blunden, Brodsky, Sohn, & Waber, 2020; Dahik et al., 2020; Felstead & Reuschke, 2020), while promising cost savings (e.g., Hitachi Capital, 2020; ServiceNow, 2020). Hence, several organizations worldwide are contemplating extending WFH as the standard work mode for a substantial percentage of their workforce post-COVID (Gartner, 2020).
Many types of white-collar jobs, as defined by Heron & Unger (1999), appear most feasible for home-based working across developed and developing countries (Dingel & Neiman, 2020; Gottlieb, Grobovšek, & Poschke, 2020). Thus, white-collar employees may be most significantly affected by a perpetuation of WFH. And the effect of the shift to WFH on employees’ daily job execution and opportunities to learn and demonstrate capabilities will likely accumulate into implications for their career advancement in the long run. Career advancement is significant for its impact on employee job satisfaction (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959/2017), which influences job performance (Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001). Therefore, this chapter focuses on white-collar employees’ career advancement under conditions of WFH, with career advancement in this context reflecting the ascending of the organizational ladder or assuming next-level responsibilities.
The authors propose the Competence Career Advancement Model (CCAM), a new cyclical model of career advancement based on the Self-Determination Theory’s (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000a) psychological need for competence and comprising three steps: Achieving Competence, Improving Competence, and Proving Competence. For each step, career advancement determinants of task characteristics and job resources, along with WFH effects on those determinants will be explored. Further, the chapter discusses how need for competence satisfaction/frustration, along the path of career advancement, impacts employee well-being (e.g., exhaustion) and work attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction) and outcomes (e.g., job performance). Worker well-being, which is the core focus of this book, and work attitudes/outcomes determine employee career sustainability, without which talk of career advancement is moot. Next are recommendations on human resource and technology practices to support employee career advancement in the new world of work. The chapter focuses on full-time WFH; part-time (a day or so per week) or occasional WFH tend not to significantly affect career advancement (McCloskey & Igbaria, 2003). Further, white-collar workers under consideration are full-time employees and not independent professionals or contractors without career advancement possibilities within the organization. Figure 1 lays out the structure of the CCAM model and its coverage in the chapter.
Figure 1. Chapter Flow and Structure
TopBackground
The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) aims to understand motivation or that which moves one to do something or persist at it (Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000a). SDT recognizes a continuum of motivation: from amotivation or no intention of doing something, extrinsic motivation or doing something because of external consequences such as rewards or punishments, to intrinsic motivation or doing something because it is inherently enjoyable (Gagné & Deci, 2005; Ryan & Deci, 2000a).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Improving Competence: The second stage of the Competence Career Advancement Model, it involves developing and improving skills to enhance performance on tasks of the current career level and prepare for next-level requirements.
White-Collar Employee: Those under contract of employment and required to perform mainly non-manual office work.
Career Advancement: Progressing up the organizational hierarchy, with such progress usually bringing more decision-making responsibilities.
Proving Competence: The third stage of the Competence Career Advancement Model, it involves demonstrating competence favourably versus peers at the interpersonal competition presented by performance appraisal.
Competence Career Advancement Model: A model depicting three stages—Achieving Competence, Improving Competence, and Proving Competence—that are a precursor to career advancement. The model is cyclical in nature, i.e., whether a worker progresses to handling next-level responsibilities or is retained at the current level, they must yet repeat all three stages.
Achieving Competence: The first stage of the Competence Career Advancement Model, it involves mastering and effectually delivering the job tasks at one's current career level.
Work From Home: When workers, typically using information & communication technologies, perform from their place of residence the same job tasks as they were contracted to perform from their employers' or clients' place of operations.