Distress Coping Responses Among Teleworkers

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the popularity of teleworking has risen. Telework seems poised to remain popular even after the pandemic fades away. As a result, it is important to understand the humanistic effects of telework such as distress, coping responses, and related effects. Literature review: Uncertainties related to telework can lead to distress. When this occurs, teleworkers may employ a variety of coping responses, which vary across several important dimensions. These coping responses vary in the extent to which they affect telework outcomes. Research questions: 1. What strategies do teleworkers use for dealing with telework distress? 2. How are various coping strategies related to humanistic telework outcomes? Methodology: Data from a survey of 504 American teleworkers were used to test a theoretical model. Results: Results suggest that teleworkers cope with telework distress through assistance seeking, technology experimentation, venting, and negative and positive emotions. Coping responses had differential effects on telework exhaustion and satisfaction, with negative and positive emotions and venting affecting exhaustion, and assistance seeking, task experimentation, emotions, and venting affecting satisfaction. Distress had a direct effect on exhaustion, but not on satisfaction. Conclusion: The effects of emotion-focused coping on telework satisfaction and exhaustion are notably stronger than those of problem-focused coping responses. Emotion-focused coping responses that are adaptive have beneficial effects, while those that are maladaptive have detrimental effects. Adaptive problem-focused responses have similar effects. The extent of communication focus does not seem to affect the impact of coping responses on outcomes.