The impact of remote supervision communication skills upon the remote working experiences among accountants during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Employee turnover hurts the overall efficiency of organizations;this is especially true within the accounting industry. Work-life balance has always been an issue for accountants, and may be a cause for the high turnover rates experienced at accounting firms. Flexible work arrangements, including remote working, were thought to be a possible mediator to help solve this problem. Many researchers have examined this issue;however, the forced shift to remote work for all employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic offered a unique opportunity to examine accountants' perceptions of e-work. Using a sample of 100 accounting professionals, this study explored whether several factors influenced employees' perceptions of e-work, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that supervisor communication skills could influence the work-life balance factor of e-work. The study further found that the demographic factor of "years worked as an accountant" can influence employees' perceptions of e-work in general, and specifically concerning the factor of work-life balance. As we enter the post-pandemic era, accounting leaders can use these findings when planning the future work modes for their employees and the human resource department can utilize these results as they plan their supervisor training materials. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)