This study aimed to identify factors influencing the work engagement of employees working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Employees’ work engagement was examined using the following survey questions: “Do you feel energized when you are at work? (yes or no)” and “Do you take pride in your work? (yes or no)” After adjusting for potential confounders, Poisson regression was used to examine prevalence ratio and 95% confidence intervals for employees’ work engagement. We analyzed 15,670 individuals (11,894 of whom did not work from home and 3776 of whom worked from home). Their mean age was 45.6 ± 13.8 years, and 58.3% were men. Those who worked from home were younger than those who did not (43.9 ± 13.1 vs. 46.1 ± 13.9, p < 0.001). About 44% of all employees reported high work engagement. Among the employees who worked from home, an increase in sleep hours, effective interactions with supervisors, and working hours of ≤40 h/week were associated with engagement. Sensitivity analysis showed similar results. Close communication with superiors, refraining from working long hours, and obtaining adequate sleep may boost the work engagement of employees working from home.

Objectives Work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling feeling about one's job and is associated with higher productivity and morale. We performed a cross‐sectional study to investigate whether work engagement is related to healthier dietary behaviors among Japanese workers. Methods The present study was part of the Japanese Study of Health, Occupation, and Psychosocial Factors Related to Equity. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to evaluate daily nutritional intake. The following seven nutrients were considered: salt intake, dietary fat (saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids), dietary fiber, folate, and isoflavone. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed, adjusting for job stress, psychological distress, and other confounders. The baseline survey inquired about work engagement among 2,233 employees of 12 workplaces in Japan, representing a range of industries. Results The mean age of the sample was 43.4 ± 9.7 years and 89.7% of the participants were male. The mean score of work engagement was 2.9 ± 1.0. Higher work engagement was significantly positively associated with higher salt intake (β = 0.17, SE = 0.06, P = .006), monounsaturated fatty acids (β = 0.29, SE = 0.13, P = .03), polyunsaturated fatty acids (β = 0.28, SE = 0.09, P = .001), dietary fiber (β = 0.23, SE = 0.09, P = .012), and folate (β = 10.2, SE = 2.9, P = .005) consumption, but not saturated fatty acid (β = 0.16, SE = 0.11, P = .13) or isoflavone (β = 0.64, SE = 0.36, P = .072). Conclusion The present study suggested that higher work engagement is associated with a healthier pattern of dietary behaviors among workers. Improving work engagement may be a novel target for workplace health promotion.

Aim: Shift workers have a high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Systemic inflammation measured has been associated with the risk of CVD onset, in addition to classical risk factors. However, the association between work schedule and inflammatory cytokine levels remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between work schedule and interleukin-6 (IL-6)/high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels among Japanese workers.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was a part of the Japanese Study of Health, Occupation and Psychosocial Factors Related Equity (J-HOPE). A total of 5259 persons who measured inflammatory cytokine were analyzed in this study. One-way analysis of variance was used to test log-transformed IL-6/hs-CRP differences by work schedule. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the difference adjusted for other possible CVD risk factors.Results: There were 3660 participants who had a regular work schedule; the remaining schedules were shift work without night work for 181 participants, shift work with night work for 1276 participants, and only night work for 142 participants. The unadjusted model showed that only night workers were significantly related to high levels of IL-6 compared with regular workers. Even in the multiple regression analysis, the higher level of IL-6 among only night workers remained significant (β = 0.058, P = 0.01). On the contrary, hs-CRP was not.Conclusion: The present study revealed that only night shift work is significantly associated with high levels of IL-6 in Japanese workers. These observations help us understand the mechanism for the association between work schedule and CVD onset.