The impact of remote working on the motivation and performance of media employees

It was observed that remote working, which started to be practiced mandatorily during the Covid-19 pandemic, was not an easy practice for companies. This quick shift caused many changes in all organizations, from corporate culture to the technologic and physiologic substructure, from directors to employees, and new working forms and practices arose. On the other hand, human resources are the most important source that will make companies differ in a sustainable competition environment and ensure their productivity. Today employees are not motivated only by tangible factors such as wage, career, and training. However, they pay much more attention to different business models, working forms, mobility, personal health, and psychology. As a result of the change, remote working became an implementation preferred by both companies and employees. Therefore, in our study, remote working and its effects on media employees' motivation and performance were studied. The study sample includes employees of a media group operating in İstanbul. The research was conducted using a questionnaire with 118 employees working in newspapers, magazines, and digital environments between May- June 2022. According to the results, demographic characteristics of the employees such as age, gender, and education affect the perceptions of remote work only in some sub-dimensions. Demographic characteristics that significantly impacted the perception of remote work were total work experience and in-house seniority. Among the sub-dimensions, work-life balance, efficiency & productivity, and motivation significantly affected performance. In addition, it was determined that newspaper employees' perception of remote work was significantly lower than that of other groups.