Negotiating Time and Space When Working From Home: Experiences During COVID-19

Abstract

Stay-at-home mandates following the COVID-19 pandemic increased work from home (WFH). While WFH offers many benefits, navigating work in nontraditional contexts can be a challenge. The objective of this study was to explore the benefits and challenges of WFH during COVID-19 to identify supports and resources necessary. Comments from two free-response questions on a survey regarding experiences of WFH ( N = 648, N = 366) were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis. Four themes emerged: time use, considerations of working in the home space, intersections between work-life and home-life, and temporality of WFH as situated within a pandemic. Across all themes were concerns related to participation in both work and home roles, work performance, and well-being. Findings highlight the importance of support during times of disruption of occupational patterns, roles, and routines. Despite challenges, many individuals hoped to continue WFH. Organizations should consider the complex intersections of work-life and home-life to develop supportive policies and resources.

COVID-19 and Stressful Adjustment to Work: A Long-Term Prospective Study About Homeworking for Bank Employees in Italy

“…Interestingly, this is evident during the Reopening and the Second Wave, while in the Vaccination Round stage, women are less concerned with the overlap between work and private life but show more significant concern for coming back to the workplace. This result supports the hypothesis that after a long and stressful period of work-family routine adjustment, women best appreciate HW’s advantages and are less prone to BW ( Fukumura et al, 2021 ). It is plausible that adapting to HW may be associated with increased free time and potential scope for improved work-life balance ( McDowell et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Thus, individuals in both periods had to undergo new demanding work and family adjustments. Actually, in Reopening, HW, although possibly alternating with work at the office, was still a novelty or even a hazard for most employees and most organizations, thus, representing a relevant source of stress ( Hecker, 2020 ; Fukumura et al, 2021 ; Hamouche, 2021 ). Homeworkers not only have experienced an abrupt overlap between work and family lives ( Moretti et al, 2020 ) but also had to challenge a new working strategy, for which workers and organizations were largely unprepared ( Söderbacka et al, 2020 ; Shao et al, 2021 ; Xiao et al, 2021 ), so that most individuals were caught off guard and had to adjust by their means ( Guler et al, 2021 ).…”

“…HW may facilitate caring for children and sick relatives ( Moretti et al, 2020 ) but can also show the dark side of burnout ( Barriga Medina et al, 2021 ). The main effect of forced HW is a role conflict, as the simultaneous presence of two sources of pressure, that is, work and family may lead to a stressful dilemma due to the necessity to fulfill both work role and family role, at the same time, in the same place ( Fukumura et al, 2021 ; Dabbagh et al, 2022 ). Additionally, the altered working hours in HW may have a detrimental effect on parental functioning, exacerbating psychological distress, work-family conflict, and relationship quality ( Zhao et al, 2021 ).…”

Understanding Worker Well-Being Relative to High-Workload and Recovery Activities across a Whole Day: Pilot Testing an Ecological Momentary Assessment Technique

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically increased the pace at which remote working arrangements have been adopted, with roughly 35% of employees working from home at the height of the pandemic [4]. Anticipated consequences of these changes include blurring of work-life boundaries, greater expectation of work availability outside of standard hours, and increased potential for isolation [3,5]. To address these consequences, NIOSH implemented the Total Worker Health ® (TWH) program, which aims to protect workers from work-related safety and health hazards while also promoting their health more generally [6].…”

Effects of the residential built environment on remote work productivity and satisfaction during COVID-19 lockdowns: An analysis of workers’ perceptions

“…The remote working mode brought positive as well as negative perceptions from professionals who switched from the traditional way of performing their job. For example, the benefits of working from home are reported to be less burnout, a better work-life balance, and lower depression among female parents of underage children [ [26] , [27] , [28] ]. The challenges of remote working are associated with nervousness about the coronavirus pandemic and childcare [ 26 , 29 ].…”