Impact of employee well-being on performance in the context of crisis-induced remote work: role of boundary control and professional isolation

Purpose COVID-19 forced employees to work remotely. Since this shift from physical to remote working was sudden and unprecedented, the authors aimed to examine the impact of employee well-being on performance in the context of remote work. Further, the authors explored how feelings of professional isolation and employees' control over their personal and professional boundaries (i.e. boundary control) moderated the well-being and performance link. The authors invoke the equity theory and boundary theory to augment their hypotheses. Design/methodology/approach With 218 full-time employees representing large information technology organisations in India, the authors tested the hypothesised relationships using regression and double moderation in the PROCESS macro. Findings Results indicate that well-being has a significant positive impact on employee performance as they worked remotely. Further, the authors found that professional isolation and boundary control moderated the link between well-being and performance such that when boundary control is high and professional isolation is low, the aforementioned relationship strengthened and vice versa. Research limitations/implications The authors extend the boundary theory as the crisis-induced remote work highlighted the employees' need for deploying alternating boundary management styles to balance their personal and professional lives. Practical implications Organisations must develop flexible work policies to facilitate remote work and managers must efficiently craft the overall management of professional isolation and employees' boundaries to boost their well-being and performance. Originality/value The authors not only examine the impact of employee well-being on performance in the context of remote work but also, in a first, examine the role of boundary control and professional isolation in this relationship.