Healthy and Happy Working from Home? Effects of Working from Home on Employee Health and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

In addition to its catastrophic health effects, the COVID-19 pandemic also acts as a catalyst for new forms of work. Working from home (WFH) has become commonplace for many people worldwide. But under what circumstances is WFH beneficial and when does it increase harms to health? The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of specific characteristics of WFH for health (work ability, stress-related physical and psychological symptoms) and job satisfaction among German employees. The study is based on data from a Germany-wide panel survey with employees from different industries (n = 519). Using multiple regressions, it was found that the functionality of the technical equipment at home has positive effects on the health of employees (i.e., ability to work, stress-related symptoms) and job satisfaction. The percentual weekly amount of WFH influences stress-related symptoms, i.e., a higher amount of weekly working time WFH, was associated with more stress-related symptoms. Furthermore, it negatively influences job satisfaction. The feeling of increased autonomy leads to positive effects on employees’ job satisfaction. The results provide starting points for interventions and indicate the need for legal regulations for WFH. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Is Working from Home during COVID-19 Associated with Increased Sports Participation? Contexts of Sports, Sports Location and Socioeconomic Inequality

“…Though we conducted our study during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we were mainly interested in the impact of WFH on contexts and locations of sports participation that were significantly affected by the COVID-19 restrictions, our results may nonetheless be relevant after the pandemic. Several studies pre-dating COVID-19 also suggest that the flexibility and autonomy that come with WFH bring more opportunities to participate in sports [ 7 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Consequently, there seems to be an argument for organizations to encourage workers to work from home under the right conditions, even after the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…WFH can allow workers to devote more time to sports, as they may spend less time commuting and be stimulated to work more efficiently [ 20 , 21 ]. Additionally, WFH may give workers more control over working hours, enabling them to take breaks when they prefer and be more flexible with starting and finishing times [ 7 , 22 , 23 ]. WFH therefore may make it easier for workers to practice sports during breaks and/or adapt their working routines to facilitate sports participation, compared to workers who have to work on location.…”

Worldwide Scientific Production on Teleworking in Scopus in Times of COVID-19

“…The second cluster reports studies on occupational health in new environments such as home. From this perspective, it is important to evaluate the possible health effects of teleworking (Niebuhr et al, 2022). In addition, the importance of this issue is addressed because teleworking increases employees' positive emotions, job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Charalampous et al, 2019;de Macêdo et al, 2020).…”

New Work Poses New Challenges—The Importance of Work Design Competencies Revealed in Cluster Analysis

“…The presented analysis comprises the subsample of the first measurement point (t1) where data collection took place between July and August 2020. Data from the second measurement point were used in a publication focusing on health effects due to WFH [ 14 ]. The second study (Study 2) aims to validate the results of Study 1.…”

“…On the other hand, WFH working conditions differ compared to working conditions in the office during the pandemic. For example, lower levels of technical equipment due to the rapid change from office to home can have negative effects on work ability and can induce stress-related symptoms [ 14 ]. Furthermore, WFH workplaces are often less ergonomically equipped, which can lead to pain or musculoskeletal disorders [ 15 ], especially as sedentary time, also detrimental to health, increases during WFH [ 16 ].…”