The COVID-19 pandemic hit us all, but everyone reacted to it differently. Within the SASMOB project Mobilissimus and the Faculty of Economics at the University of Szeged conducted a research to learn about the employees’ experiences focusing on those who had the possibility to work (at least partially) from home. The results show that telework – under normal circumstances – could be beneficial not only to the environment but to the individuals as well.

Companies in Szeged reacted fast to the pandemic situation and subsequent lockdown. In a previous article we reported about the introduction of working from home from the employers’ point of view. Now we focus on the personal experiences of the employees. The research was carried out in two phases: first we conducted focus groups with heterogenous groups and based on the result, we created and sent out a survey to each partner employer which was filled in by 10 percent of all the employees. The results are based on both phases.

The lockdown period was full of challenges and each of us reacted to it differently. Difficulties and challenges covered a wide spectrum and can be categorized into four groups, such as problems related to work, problems related to lockdown, difficulties due to the family situation and personal wellbeing and financial issues. There were overlaps as well: between work-related problems and family, such as for example work-life balance; and when lockdown-related problems were mixed with personal issues. (There were also some people according to whom there were no difficulties.) An example for the lack of work-life balance from someone who lives with her partner (with no children): „I am working the whole day and I am not working the whole day: I deal with other things.” There were some whose days also became fuzzy but were not bothered by this mess because their life is always like this anyway. Those who prefer to separate work from family and private life suffered because there was not enough space for them, but the house chores and the children also played a big role in their frustration. A father said “the householding tasks distracted me from my work” meaning that he helped (or had to help) his wife. However, this was not always the case. The gender roles differed a lot. An example from another father with bigger kids emphasized that the moment his wife started working from home, he started going to the office because “The goal was not to be at home at the same time. Many memes were about ‘how good, we are together, we can talk more’ but I rather decreased this amount of time”. This shows the duality of being quarantined: some looked at it as an opportunity while for some others it was a burden. And some simply missed their daily routine. The conflicting roles (work versus householding/babysitting) were emphasized throughout the focus groups.

Figure 1: Difficulties and challenges of the quarantine