Twenty-eighth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

Since the beginning of 2020, we face a new situation in the workplace, due to the pandemic, which has changed conditions, norms, habits, and practices of interaction, most of which relate to the way learning is being designed, delivered, and evaluated within organizational contexts. Two basic questions arise within this framework: do people work from home or do they live in their workplace? And, since e-learning and working from home are practices used in the past, what is new this time? The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the outcomes of COVID-19 have affected people at home working remotely and how learning needs to be re-designed. The study is based on a retrospective design since February 2020. Relevant articles in newspapers (searchable only are included in the study) were studied through specific words’ search and a systematic content analysis was arranged. Results reveal that most people have found themselves in front of the need to adjust their household into a new working reality, with increased online interactions. The study concludes that COVID-19 has created new ways of working and learning, while social interaction has been re-defined, thus what learning is and how it can be achieved needs to be re-examined taken into consideration the increased need for self-leadership. Moreover, it seems that the end of the pandemic does not mean a return to the previous normality. New normality is being created, while the benefits of remote work and the limitations for employees’ work-life balance need to be re-considered.