HOME OFFICE AND THE WORK ENVIRONMENT OF PUBLIC SERVERS

Introduction: This article aimed to identify and analyze the changes that occurred due to the implementation of home office , as a result of Covid-19, in the work environment of technical-administrative employees at federal universities. The research used a qualitative and descriptive approach. The results showed that employees prefer to continue working from home, with the hybrid model or partial teleworking being preferred. The main advantages were autonomy and greater flexibility of schedules; increased productivity; less bureaucracy and family coexistence. And the main disadvantages were adequacy of the work space; leadership difficulties and feelings of isolation. Objective: The objective of the research, which is exploratory in nature, is to analyze the changes that the home office brought to the work environment of technical-administrative employees at a federal university. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is divided into two main parts. The first part deals with home office research, which conceptually underlies this research. The second part explores the home office in more detail in the context of Brazilian public administration. Method: The qualitative methodology was adopted for this research, through semi-structured interviews with 18 administrative technical employees from the Federal University in São Paulo (UF). The Atlas TI 23 was used for content analysis. The research was authorized and approved by the Research Ethics committee at the institution involved. Results and Discussion: The results showed a preference for the home office model, especially the hybrid or partial model (with in-person work once or twice a week). Also,


INTRODUCTION
During and after this exceptional period of Covid-19, it was observed that the work environment of organizations was affected in several aspects by the imperative need to quickly adapt to the pandemic context, which imposed a "compulsory" implementation of remote work or home office.In the Brazilian public sector, which includes Public Higher Education Institutions (IPES), the panorama of labor relations has even undergone legal changes, among them, the recognition and institutionalization of telework, the effects of which persist to this day (Lucas & Santos, 2021;Williamson, Colley, Hybers, & Tani, 2023).
Therefore, we sought to find out what this has entailed for the work environment of a significant portion of public servants, namely, administrative technicians at federal universities (Williamson, Colley, Hybers, & Tani, 2023).The objective of this exploratory research is to analyze the changes that home office has brought to the work environment of technical and administrative staff at a federal university.
As for the relevance of this study, we can see that teleworking, or home office, has been a trend in recent years.It is no surprise that some companies, especially in the technology sector, such as the so-called big techs, Google and Meta, have long since adopted this model for their employees on at least some days of the week (Sacchitiello, 2022).
With the COVID-19 pandemic, remote workwhether total or partialhas become essential to reduce contagion during the pandemic.As a result of this "forced" adoption of home office by many organizations in different sectors, including Direct and Indirect Public Administration, which includes federal universities, a major change in the work environment has been observed.
The recent labor reform, Law 13,467 of 2017, introduced a new chapter on telework into the CLT, defining it as "the provision of services predominantly outside the employer's premises" (art.75-B, CLT).For the Brazilian public sector, the turning point was the even more recent Decree No. 11,072 of May 17, 2022, which institutionalized and made official the practice of telework, subject to the conditions established in what was called by law as the PGD -Management and Performance Program for the Federal Public Administration, whether direct, autonomous, and foundational.Telework, until then seen as a temporary solution for an exceptional period of health crisis, has been showing signs that it may become permanent in many work environments where it had never been considered before, or give rise to a "hybrid" way of working in many sectors of the economy, including Public Administration.This article is divided into 4 main parts.After this introduction, the theoretical framework is presented, followed by the methodology, results and discussions and conclusion.

THEORETICAL REFERENCE
The theoretical framework is divided into two main parts.The first part deals with home office research, which conceptually underpins this research.The second part explores home office in greater detail in the context of Brazilian public administration.Telework can be explained as a way of organizing work through which activities can be developed partially or completely outside the physical location of the company, using telecommunication tools and services (Konradt, Schmook, & Malecke, 2000).According to Sakuda and Vasconcelos (2005), telework is nothing more than the use of computer and telecommunications technology to modify an already established work structure, involving legal, socioeconomic, organizational, and environmental dimensions (Filardi, Castro, & Zanini, 2020).Home office can also be defined as work performed remotely, outside the usual physical workplace, using ICTs, which include computers, landline and mobile phones, and all data technology that makes it possible to work from anywhere, receive and transmit information, files, images, or sound related to work activity (Sobratt, 2015).
In this scenario of intensive use of telecommunications, it is important to understand, first of all, the adaptation of users and the facts prior to the implementation of this work model.
For example, in the study by Eom, Choi, and Sung (2016), the characteristics and behavior of ICT users in the South Korean government were researched.When analyzing the profiles and pre-existing characteristics with the intention to use ICTs, it was found that younger workers and those in lower positions in the hierarchy were more likely to use digital technologies and that the factors of social isolation and lack of communication, leadership, and management have negative effects on workers.Furthermore, Hislop et al. (2015) researched how the use of ICTs and cell phones by self-employed workers influences their work experience, focusing on their location, how this is managed, and experiences of professional and social isolation.The conclusions showed that the use of cell phones with ICTs led to greater space-time flexibility and helped these workers to better deal with social isolation.However, on the other hand, it also brought about the problem of presenteeism, which can be considered a negative factor for the health of both employees and the organizational environment.It is noted that Brazilian legislation does not use the term "remote work", but the doctrine and several international articles normally use the expressions remote work, as well as home office.As seen, Article 75 of the CLT defined telework as "the provision of services predominantly outside the employer's premises, with the use of information and communication technologies that, by their nature, do not constitute external work" and, furthermore, regulated changes in the working day and ensured the prevalence of collective bargaining over the law.
The expansion of the internet and the constant innovation brought about by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have greatly encouraged teleworking.As a result, some companies have increasingly implemented it, aiming to reduce costs related to renting physical space, commuting time, electricity, transportation and food, cleaning and maintenance, among others (Basso;Barreto Jr., 2019).
Currently, research on teleworking, or home office, in the private sector in Brazil shows a propensity for companies to incorporate this new way of working.A recent survey by the School of Economics and Administration of the University of São Paulo (FEA-USP), in partnership with the Institute of Administration Foundation (FIA), with higher education positions, managers and professors, a total of 1,566 professionals working teleworking, demonstrated that there is great potential for growth in home office in the country, especially once the COVID-19 health crisis is overcome (Fischer & Amorim, 2020).According to the study, respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with working from home and a perception that their performance has been positively impacted.Namely: 70% said they would prefer to continue working from home after the pandemic; 19% said they would not, and 11% were indifferent.The survey also informs us that 94% consider themselves engaged with the organization they work for, revealing that the adoption of teleworking did not harm this issue.
It also shows that 71% see remote work as a possibility to increase quality and productivity.
And 76% agree with the statement that working from home is compatible with family life.
The compulsory isolation, which led to working from home, both caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, also served to change the traditional paradigm and leverage the new work model, which moved from the office to the home.For him, several psychological barriers that 7 prevented the migration to the home office were overcome.Furthermore, isolation has forced people to quickly learn digital tools that were once used more as facilitators of informal conversations and virtual social gatherings, and which have now become effective and common work tools (Fischer & Amorim, 2020).It should be noted that these findings are applicable to more qualified workers with a good monthly income, who have greater potential for working from home and are willing to adopt this work model.
A notable consequence of the pandemic and, at the same time, a challenge for organizations is that people's lifestyle and consumption patterns have changed: they have started to live what they are calling the "new normal", a very different scenario that is already requiring institutions to reflect on how to adapt to this new reality (Alves, Amorim, & Bezerra, 2021).
The migration caused by COVID-19 to remote work, on an unprecedented scale and speed, will have consequences on people's work models, highlighting issues such as the balance between professional and personal time (Kevin et al., 2020).

REMOTE WORK IN BRAZILIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
According to the publication by IPEA, in the Economic Outlook Letter No. 52, on July 15, 2021, which analyzed remote work activity in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, public sector organizations currently account for 36.1% of all people working from home in Brazil, with 14.4% at the federal level, 13.9% at the state level, and 7.8% at the municipal level (Góes, Martins, & Nascimento, 2021).
However, teleworking presents significant challenges to be overcome, both by public agencies and by employees.There are problems with adaptation, communication, a feeling of isolation, and difficulties in managing people when it comes to supervising remote work.This means that, despite the notable advances, there are still obstacles to be overcome for remote work to reach its full potential.However, the authors observed that "the gains are much higher, both for the employee, the agency, and society" (Lucas & Santos, 2021, p. 268), revealing that home office is a very viable work option in the face of the challenges imposed by modernization.
In the Brazilian public administration, Serpro was a pioneer in adopting remote work in a more comprehensive and structured way in a pilot project in 2005.Subsequently, more public organizations established internal rules for telework.For example, we have Ordinances No.In delimiting this study, it should be noted that the category of teaching staff was purposefully excluded, since teaching is a sphere of work that is quite distinct from university management activities.By a similar criterion, the entire class of outsourced employees was excluded, which are understood as those workers who are hired through third-party companies, on a temporary basis, and who generally perform functions that are not directly linked to the organization's core business, such as reception, cleaning, maintenance, and property security.
Professionals who are permanent employees of the UF were interviewed until saturation was reached.
In the context of an essentially qualitative research, the interviews were initially transcribed and then the data were tabulated, examined, and reviewed.For this purpose, the content analysis technique was used, as well as the Atlas TI 23 data organization and analysis software, so that it was possible to better organize and specify the results and/or trends from the interviews until the limit at which saturation was reached.For each department, a professional in a leadership position was interviewed.All interviewees are tenured employees of the UF and, therefore, are aware of the demands and needs of their work within their respective functions.Table 1 shows the sociodemographic characteristics (gender, marital status, children, age group, professional training and position held), qualifying the profile of the interviewees in this study.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF HOME OFFICE
This section discusses the opinions and data collected, which were organized and analyzed with the help of Atlas TI 23 software, so that it was possible to code the assertions and classify them into categories.
We obtained the following frequency distribution in the interviews, of the aspects that can be categorized as advantages, or promoting elements, or a positive consequence of home office, in decreasing order of mentions: Autonomia e maior flexibilidade de horários ( 17 Before any analysis, it should be noted that items b, f, and l are not advantages of remote work in the strict sense, but rather arise from opinions about its consequences, namely, the suitability of leadership and the preference for partial or total home office, analyzed later in this Most of those interviewed stated that saving money and time on commuting ( 14) was one of the biggest advantages of working from home, namely: "My fuel costs have already been significantly reduced, since I use my car to go to work.I live about 15 km from my workplace, so it makes a big difference."(E17) "I live in Santos, and it used to take me 2 hours to get to and 2 hours from my university, so this has a big impact and makes it easier to choose to work from home.(E8) I gained 4 hours every day just on commuting because of working from home, so it makes a huge difference."(E10) Along the same lines, many interviewees mentioned as advantages of working from home both a better quality of life (10) and greater family life (7).
Following this, most interviewees indicated as advantages of working from home both a better ability to focus or concentrate on their activities (14).At the same time, most also perceived an increase (13)even if slight (it was not quantified because it was not the directive of this study)in their own productivity.As an example, the opinions below: "I felt, and I feel, more focused at home, with fewer interruptions, because there are a lot of people at my work and someone comes by all the time to answer a question or even to talk about something."(E6) "At home, I can work more calmly, there are not many interruptions, for example, by phone or by people."(E3) In person, at university, you have no control over interruptions."When a colleague comes to talk about a subject that has nothing to do with what you are doing, you are not going to say no to them and you are going to answer.So, I think that in this aspect, working from home has brought a substantial gain, although I cannot measure it, it is easier to concentrate and more comfortable too."(E5) It is interesting to note that, in this study, at least half of the interviewees expressed the opinion that the ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) currently available for teleworking are sufficient (9); they also stated that, counterintuitively, remote work brought them closer to their own work team (9).There were also several mentions made by the interviewees that they perceive home office as an advantage in terms of reducing bureaucracy and/or increasing objectivity in workflows (7).
Finally, among the options of full in-person work, full telework and partial home office or hybrid work, the interviewees were asked to express their preference.Of all 18, 13 said they preferred hybrid work exclusively, going to university at most once or twice a week; two preferred full home office exclusively; another two said that it made no difference whether they worked fully or partially.Only one interviewee said they preferred to work in person every day, a case that was a particular contrast found in this study: "I see the hybrid model, or partial home office, as a model in which you can enjoy the best of both types of work.When there are activities that require greater focus, you will find remote work to be more advantageous; and when you have activities that require interaction with people to quickly exchange ideas, you can also be in person for that.That is why I see an advantage in the hybrid work model."(E12) The interviewees also mentioned that they see the benefits of working from home as lower food costs and better health, which also fall within the scope of quality of life.
A relevant point to highlight is the interviewees' opinion on leadership, whether or not it is suitable for a remote work environment.Of the 18 interviewees, 12 consider that the leadership of their team or department is suitable for the new scenario brought about by the definitive implementation of working from home in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period.
Regarding the disadvantages, or hindering elements, of working from home, pointed out by the administrative technicians of the UF, the following frequency distribution of opinions was observed in the interviews, in decreasing order: It is important to note that, in this study, the need to adapt and adapt the physical workspace, which had to be done abruptly, initially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then at the expense of the employees themselves, as required by the aforementioned decree of May 2022 that instituted the Management and Performance Plan (PGD), led to it being cited as a disadvantage of working from home by the majority of interviewees (15).Issues ranging from ergonomics to lack of infrastructure and even space were raised.In the same sense, there were problems with the use of ICTs, which were experienced and reported by half of the interviewees (9).
One aspect that drew a lot of attention in this study, and which does not appear in articles on telework researched, as can be seen below in Table 1, was the indication, as a disadvantage of working from home, of slower interdepartmental (or external) interactions by a very significant portion of the interviewees (11).
On the other hand, opinions emerged that highlighted the difficulties of leadership, organization and control (9), important aspects in any work environment: "I think leadership needs to evolve, because it lacks a more managerial vision to adapt work to new circumstances.Sometimes I only see a very operational, limited vision."(E17) Finally, regarding the disadvantages of home office, in this research, it is also worth highlighting the reports of the interviewees regarding the conflict between the home and work environments (6), as well as the feeling of isolation (5): "What I think is a little more difficult now is that I have a six-month-old baby, so I have concerns that I didn't have before when I was working from home.But my performance and my commitment to work are the same.In any case, I feel better psychologically and physically having the opportunity to work from home some days."(E8) There was a counterpoint regarding one of the 18 interviewees.This is a leader who could have adopted remote work, either fully or partially, but ruled out the possibility and opted to work in person, justifying this with his personal experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For him, compulsory home office ended up affecting his performance, due to difficulties in concentrating on tasks and interruptions, claiming problems with the fusion of the family and professional environments.In any case, this is an exception that we found in a scenario in which all of the interviewed employees who could opt for remote work at the UF ended up doing so.
We also highlight that when the interviewees were asked about how they perceived the quality of communication and feedback, if there were any changes in the telework environment, the opinions were more heterogeneous and quite divergent.For some, it improved; for others, it got worse.It was also indifferent compared to in-person work, for another group.Therefore, home office was a non-existent reality for federal public universities in the context prior to the COVID-19 crisis, having been implemented due to it, compulsorily, in 2020; and optionally, after the end of the pandemic, in 2022.With this necessary caveat, it is believed that the present study reveals, with greater emphasis, data on changes that occurred in the work environment of UF employees, which may or may not ratify, or go beyond the data described in articles produced by other researchers, in a summarized form and decreasing chronological order, in Figure 1 below.

CONCLUSION
The public sector underwent a major transformation in terms of changes in the work environment from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced most workers to stay home to slow down the spread of the virus and reduce mortality.The Public Administration, which includes the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, which served as a laboratory for this study, was no exception and had to adapt to remote work.The evidence from this study shows that there was an increase in home office, especially after May 2022, through the establishment, by the Federal Government, of the General Performance Plan -PGD (Decree No. 11,072/22), which regulated telework in national legislation, in partial or total modalities, enabling its adoption not only by federal universities, but also throughout the Direct and Indirect Public Administration.Although this research has shown that there are still challenges to be overcome, such as the ongoing need for development and intensive use of ICTs -Information and Communication Technologies, so that home office can reach its full potential in terms of benefits, a broad preference for hybridism as a work model was found in interviews with employees.
All objectives related to the research were achieved, namely: a) The main advantages perceived by technical-administrative staff: autonomy and greater flexibility of schedules; savings on commuting/time; increased productivity; ease of concentration/focus; better quality of life; greater cooperation/team synergy; less bureaucracy/greater objectivity; family life; savings on food/health.And the main disadvantages pointed out by them: adaptation and suitability of the workspace; difficulties in leadership/organization and control; problems with ICTs; greater slowness in interdepartmental/external interactions; conflict between the home and work environments; feeling of isolation; b) The investigation found that there are no relevant differences in perception between the leaders and the respective work groups regarding the home office factor and its influence on the work environment, in the sense that both have similar opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of remote work.In this study, the preference for the home office model is evident, especially the hybrid or partial one (with in-person work once or twice a week); c) It was also found that the performance of employees was influenced by the implementation of home office, in their perception, with the majority reporting difficulties in adapting in the first few months and, currently, they consider that their productivity has returned to the same standards, or has improved, compared to when activities were only in person.This study was limited in scope, since there are many public universities, federal, state and even municipal, but only one, the UF, was studied.Despite this, it is considered that this study can serve as a reference for other public ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.7 | p.1-19 | e08152 | 2024.5 2.1 REMOTE WORK, TELEWORK OR HOME OFFICE Telework, or remote work, or home office are expressions used to refer to a type of service provision.In this, the worker performs his/her duties outside the physical confines of a company remotely.
___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.7 | p.1-19 | e08152 | 2024.6 2.2 TELEWORKING IN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT In Brazil, Law 12,551/2011 amended Article 6 of the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT), guaranteeing equal rights between in-person and remote work.The labor reform resulting from Law 13,467 of 2017 introduced a new chapter in the CLT that regulates telework in its Article 75 (Brazil, 2020).
139/2009 and 99/2010 of the TCU, which regulated activities outside their facilities.In this context, other public agencies proposed the implementation of remote work: Federal Revenue Home office and the Work Environment of Public Servers ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.7 | p.1-19 | e08152 | 2024.8 (2012), Attorney General's Office (AGU) (2011), Superior Labor Court (TST) (2012), and Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ) (2016).As examples of major changes in the organizational environment of public bodies that are here to stay, on April 14, 2021, the highest national court, the TJ-SP (Court of Justice of São Paulo), published Resolution No. 850/21 of its Special Body, deciding to maintain part of the work and hearings in the remote system (adopted in March 2020), even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.Federal universities also followed the model of distancing during the pandemic.The Federal University (UF) in this research has been offering classes in the remote distance learning (EAD) mode since the end of March 2020, with employees working from home and a minimum number of on-site staff for cleaning, maintenance, security and research assistance services in multi-user laboratories.The UF established the staggered return to in-person work on June 1, 2022, with the resolution on telework having been voted on and approved by its highest collegiate body, the University Council, based on Decree No. 11,072/2022, which instituted the Management and Performance Program (PGD), the implementation of which began in August 2022.It is important to highlight the most recent federal legislation on telework, namely the aforementioned Decree No. 11,072, published on May 17, 2022, which "provides for the Management and Performance Program -PGD of the direct, autarchic and foundational federal public administration."In its art.6, it is stated that "the PGD may be adopted in the following modalities: in-person or telework."3METHODOLOGYThis research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the UF studied and the Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul (USCS).Considering that the objective of the research is to identify the changes brought about by home office to the work environment of technical-administrative staff of a federal public university, with the UF as the locus, a qualitative, exploratory research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with the staff, using the content analysis technique as an analytical strategy.The target population of the study, from which the sample was drawn, is composed of administrative staff of a Federal University in the State of São Paulo (hereinafter referred to as UF), a public higher education institution whose legal nature is a federal public foundation, established in 2005.The UF has just over 1,000 administrative staff in its organizational structure, who occupy mid-and senior-level positions in the various departments and perform executive and/or management activities.
was reached with the interview of the 18th UF employee.The approximately 200 pages of transcribed interviews were analyzed using the Atlas TI 23 content analysis software.230 relevant quotes were recorded, divided into 25 codes and three categories, namely: A) Advantages of Home office (13 codes); B) Disadvantages of Home office (ten codes); C) Divergent Opinions and Counterpoint to Home office (two codes).The federal university is a unique organization for studying the introduction of home office and possible changes to the work environment.From a legal and legal standpoint, it is a federal public foundation that has managerial, administrative and financial autonomy, and is part of the Indirect Public Administration.The UF reported that almost all sectors are able to use at least the hybrid home office model, excluding only in-person service in libraries and multi-user laboratories, which have a special 30-hour workweek due to continuous operation.For this reason, approximately 90% of administrative technicians are working in areas suitable for implementing home office, with ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.7 | p.1-19 | e08152 | 2024.10 many of them already having done so definitively, such as those studied here, and others in the process of implementing it.Three employees from six different departments of the UF were purposefully chosen, always one leader and two subordinates, so that the scope of the sample is effectively representative of the work environments of administrative technicians at a federal university.The UF organizational chart is more extensive and includes several other areas, but the purpose of this study is a qualitative, not a quantitative, analysis.And the selection criteria were based on departments with essential, but at the same time distinct, administrative functions and responsibilities for the regular functioning of the university.The departments chosen for this research were: 1) SUGEPE -General Superintendence of Personnel; 2) CGSA -General Coordination of Supplies and Acquisitions; 3) DI / PROAD -Import Division of the Pro-Rectorate of Administration; 4) PROPES -Pro-Rectorate of Research; 5) PROPLADI -Pro-Rectorate of Planning and Institutional Development; 6) NTI -Information Technology Center.
study.It is interesting to note that, in this research, autonomy and greater flexibility of schedules were remembered and cited as advantages of home office by almost all interviewees (17).Here are some of these quotes: "This flexibility was very good for me.Knowing that I have the freedom to work remotely on certain days means I can provide the service and, at the same time, I have time to take care of household issues.(E6) Sometimes I leave work to do at night, sometimes I work in the morning and in the afternoon I have to.It's taking my son to school, picking up my son, so there's flexibility.There's more freedom, but the pressure and demands of work are the same."(E4) "There's more autonomy and also more flexibility, even for people.So, if I'm going to work remotely today, I can take care of other things, even household issues, because you have more time available."(E2) a) Problems with adaptation and suitability of physical space (15); b) Slower interdepartmental interactions (11); c) Difficulties with ICTs (11); d) Difficulties with leadership/organization and control (9); e) Conflict between home and work environments (6); f) Feelings of isolation (5); ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.7 | p.1-19 | e08152 | 2024.14 g) Difficulty focusing/concentrating (1); h) Decreased productivity (1); i) Loss of networking and progression (1).