I. Introduction:
a. I chose the topic of “experiencing work overload during a global pandemic.” I found that this issue is an important problem to discuss because we are still currently going through it and it is affecting students and people who have jobs both virtually and in person. This is related to communication and work-life because this pandemic has caused for issues to be addressed in work-life and personal life and how it has positively and negatively affected communication. I want to dive into the ins and outs of working as a student and an employee during a pandemic, how they differ, and how it has affected peoples work ethics, norms, and social/personal life.
II. Gathering Research
a. Scholarly Comm Source:
Aristovnik A, Keržič D, Ravšelj D, Tomaževič N, Umek L. Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Life of Higher Education Students: A Global Perspective. Sustainability. 2020; 12(20):8438. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208438
b. Popular Press Source:
Wuench, J. (2020, August 25). 5 Tips For Work Life Balance During A Global Pandemic. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/juliawuench/2020/08/25/5-tips-for-work-life-balance-during-a-global-pandemic/?sh=307a0d7b1d87
c. These articles helped narrow down my topic because it has allowed me to branch off some other ideas to put into my paper. The scholarly source I found helped me to gather information on the academic portion of work-life balance/overload during the pandemic. For one it allows you to think about how students have more freedom to get their work done but also talks about the limitations from the freedom like self-discipline and motivation or more on a global scale of how some people and different areas don’t have the access to do and receive their work. They also reported that student’s workload had become “significantly larger” which is a main factor going into the overall topic of “work overload.” On the opposition the popular press article that I found gives tips about work life balance during the pandemic. The tips provided helps in two ways. For one I found when doing research assignments, it’s good to find a positive if the discussion is centered around the negative. Secondly the article helped me to think of the negative things that working during a pandemic has caused. For example, it mentions that working from home is not PTO (personal time off). I could add this to work overload by diving into how people get distracted when working virtually/at home and has caused for a pile up or misunderstanding in their work and the workload.
III. Critical Assessment
a. I think this topic is worth exploring because it is something we are all going through. It is interesting to read and see different perspectives and how people have been affected by the pandemic. Through both work employment and school, it is intriguing to see the overload dynamic and how people have been able to cope through it all. It is also important to keep in mind that the work overload is not just dependent on work itself but also on how people have maintained their family and social life while trying to get work done.
b. The biggest problem to be addressed when it comes to peoples work life during a pandemic is to really become active on the problem of overworking. People who do not do the work completely, slack, or even quit have a big impact on the work as a whole regardless of if it’s for a university or job employment.
IV. Reflect
a. The biggest take away I’ve gotten from this topic is the different ways that the pandemic has affected different ways of work. It has allowed for me to think about what Fast Food workers go through because many places are still short staffed and often have work/customer overload. It has affected students in the way that if you don’t have an understanding teacher or lack motivation/proper scheduling your work will become too much. Also, with regular remote work I see my mom do this every day where she will be on top of things for one day and then someone might quit, she may lack motivation, she might fall behind from a missed meeting which have all caused work overload. I feel as though system theory is a big part of this topic.
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