Telecommuting acceptance towards employee’s work-life balance: a study of Government-Linked Company (GLC) in East Coast Region / Nik Nur Qamarina Mohd Khairudin

In line with the industrial revolution 4.0, telecommuting becomes more robust and relevant to be implemented in Malaysia even though this working arrangement is not widely accepted by most of Malaysia's companies due to some hindering factors. There is a limited encouragement from the management and awareness of the benefit of telecommuting shared to the employer, employees, and organisation. For this reason, the researcher aims to measure the acceptance of PETRONAS ICT employees in the East Coast Region which is consisted of Kelantan, Pahang, and Terengganu on the telecommuting arrangement that ultimately contributes to the employee's work-life balance. Employee acceptance with regards to telecommuting is the dependent variable, and the impacts it has on work-life balance, value and empowerment are evaluated using a component of each independent variables, which are: (i) more family time, (ii) increased productivity, (iii) reduced absenteeism, (iv) reduced turnover, (v) job satisfaction and (vi) time flexibility. The items in questionnaires are a closed-ended type using a five-point Likert scale and the sample of 70 respondents being selected from the PETRONAS ICT employee in the East Coast Region. The researcher distributed 70 sets of questionnaires and returned 60 questionnaires, with a return rate of 86%. The data gathered for this study have been analysed using the Social Sciences Statistical Package (SPSS), version 24. Multiple regression was applied in analysing and interpreting the collected data. The result of telecommuting acceptance towards work-life balance generally support the first hypothesis in this study and eventually had answered the objectives for this study. As a conclusion, work-life balance has a strong relationship and was a significant factor that influences the acceptance of telecommuting among Government-Linked Company (PETRONAS ICT employee) in the East Coast Region, Malaysia.