However, prior to the pandemic, remote working was not a widely used practice (Kossek & Lautsch, 2018). Remote working is defined as “a flexible work arrangement whereby workers work in locations, remote from their central offices or production facilities, the worker has no personal contact with co‐workers there, but is able to communicate with them using technology” (Di Martino & Wirth, 1990, p. We discuss the implications of our research for the pandemic and beyond.Īs information and communication technologies (ICTs) have advanced in their capabilities, and especially with the greater availability of high‐speed internet, remote working (also referred to as teleworking, telecommuting, distributed work, or flexible work arrangements Allen et al., 2015) has grown in its use as a new mode of work in the past several decades. Self‐discipline was a significant moderator of several of these relationships. Specifically, social support was positively correlated with lower levels of all remote working challenges job autonomy negatively related to loneliness workload and monitoring both linked to higher work‐home interference and workload additionally linked to lower procrastination. In Study 2, using survey data from 522 employees working at home during the pandemic, we found that virtual work characteristics linked to worker's performance and well‐being via the experienced challenges. In Study 1, from semi‐structured interviews with Chinese employees working from home in the early days of the pandemic, we identified four key remote work challenges (work‐home interference, ineffective communication, procrastination, and loneliness), as well as four virtual work characteristics that affected the experience of these challenges (social support, job autonomy, monitoring, and workload) and one key individual difference factor (workers’ self‐discipline). We conducted a mixed‐methods investigation to explore the challenges experienced by remote workers at this time, as well as what virtual work characteristics and individual differences affect these challenges. Shereef Elnahal, president and CEO of University Hospital in Newark, spoke with PIX11 News to explain what the preliminary findings reveal about omicron.Existing knowledge on remote working can be questioned in an extraordinary pandemic context. Futures that had pointed to a lower open reversed course in seconds and swung solidly to the positive with the Dow jumping almost 200 points.ĭr. Pfizer’s announcement had an immediate impact on U.S. “Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron strain, it’s clear from these preliminary data that protection is maximized with a third dose of our vaccine,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. Pfizer said two doses of the vaccine may still induce protection against severe disease. Scientists have speculated that the high jump in antibodies that comes with a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines might be enough to counter any decrease in effectiveness.Īntibody levels predict how well a vaccine may prevent infection with the coronavirus but they are just one layer of the immune system’s defenses. The companies already are working to create an omicron-specific vaccine in case it’s needed. Pfizer announced the preliminary laboratory data in a press release and it hasn’t yet undergone scientific review. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said lab tests showed a booster dose increased by 25-fold the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies against omicron. NEW YORK - Pfizer said Wednesday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine may protect against the new omicron variant even though the initial two doses appear significantly less effective.