0601506 - FLÚ 2025 eng A - Abstract
Černohorská, Vanda - Klegr, Tereza
Navigating Autonomy. Unraveling the Dynamics of Remote Work and Digital Technologies in the Post-COVID Era.
[16th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Tension, Trust and Transformation. Porto, 27.08.2024-30.08.2024]
Method of presentation: Přednáška
Event organizer: European Sociological Association
URL events: https://www.esarn27.com/?p=2563 
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : autonomy * digital technologies * remote work * post-COVID-19
OECD category: Sociology
Result website:
https://www.esarn27.com/?p=2563

This paper investigates the relationship between personal autonomy in terms of the time, place, and performance of work and the use of digital technologies (DT) to work remotely. Drawing from the multidisciplinary project, TIMED (TIMe experience in Europe’s Digital age), we investigate post-COVID-19 digital practices in Czechia, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, and the UK, examining their implications for individuals’ professional and personal lives. Our findings are based on semi-structured interviews (n=450). From our interviewees’ perspectives, the COVID-19 era marked a pivotal moment when remote work, facilitated by DT, experienced a sudden surge. Subsequently, for many positions, this option of working remotely or in a hybrid mode has persisted. Despite the advantages of increased flexibility in choosing when, where, and how to work, we identified various challenges that paradoxically impact workers’ autonomy. While remote work using DT has been embraced for improving work-life balance, issues such as constant accessibility, blurred boundaries between work and personal life, and a higher workload (ironically caused by more efficient task accomplishment, such as online meetings instead of in-person meetings) have emerged. Despite the continued appeal of the flexibility remote work offers, particularly for individuals with caregiving responsibilities, it introduces tensions and potential risks of exhaustion, isolation, and a loss of drive. In collaboration with trade unions, a key cooperation partner in the TIMED project, we emphasise the necessity for more effective regulation of remote work enabled by DT and a comprehensive understanding of its implications within broader sociocultural contexts with a special focus on gender+ inequalities.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0358994