Evaluating the Capacity for Work Chat Apps to Maintain and Facilitate Workplace Communication During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge shift in the workforce as many former office employees began working remotely. Remote work, or "teleworking," was not as prevalent prior to the pandemic as it is now (StatCan, 2021). Research prior to the pandemic found that teleworking relied on communication technologies to connect the employee to the workplace and led to greater employee autonomy, satisfaction and in many cases productivity (Baruch, 2000). Research on remote work during the pandemic has so far found greater instances of stress and isolation as a result of remote work (Wang, Liu, Qian, Parker 2021). The literature also highlights the distance between workers in the virtual environment as well as disruptions in communication. Informed by both the pre-pandemic and current literature on remote work, this paper will investigate the potential of work chat applications such as Microsoft Teams, Slack and Discord to improve communication and worker engagement. The paper aims to improve understanding of the ways in which remote workers uses and experience chat applications in day-to-day, informal communication that takes place outside of formal meetings. This will be achieved by surveying remote workers about their experience using chat technologies and the benefits and challenges that stem from these technologies.