The impact on the job of working from home teleworkers: a report on the Asian context of COVID-19

Working from home is a potentially powerful alternative method of work arrangement recently in order to maintain essential business operations in response to pandemic disruptions, thanks to the advancement of technologies that have shifted the traditional working way that requires a physical presence to a virtual environment. With the purpose of validating a theoretical model that forecasts the turnover possibility of teleworking employees during an ongoing challenge as the COVID-19 airborne disease spreads, the present research proposes a new and improved theoretical model by incorporating: 1) the stress-strain-outcome model; 2) the relevance between professional remoteness and turnover motivation. The present study reveals that professional isolation is no longer relevant to worker's turnover intentions in the presence of limited job opportunities due to the global economic threats of downturns. It also offers perspectives and potential lessons for managers and organisations to develop strategies to optimise the values of teleworking and improve the rate of job retention.