Does working from home work? Experience of working from home and the value of hybrid workplace post-COVID-19

Psychological detachment from work predicts mental wellbeing of working-age adults: Findings from the 'Wellbeing of the Workforce' (WoW) prospective longitudinal cohort study

BACKGROUND

There is an urgent need to better understand the factors that predict mental wellbeing in vocationally active adults during globally turbulent times.

AIM

To explore the relationship between psychological detachment from work (postulated as a key recovery activity from work) in the first national COVID-19 lockdown with health, wellbeing, and life satisfaction of working age-adults one year later, within the context of a global pandemic.

METHODS

Wellbeing of the Workforce (WoW) was a prospective longitudinal cohort study, with two waves of data collection (Time 1, April-June 2020: T1 n = 337; Time 2, March-April 2021: T2 = 169) corresponding with the first and third national COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK. Participants were >18 years, who were employed or self-employed and working in the UK. Descriptive and parametric (t-tests and linear regression) and nonparametric (chi square tests) inferential statistics were employed.

RESULTS

Risk for major depression (T1: 20.0% to T2: 29.0%, p = .002), poor general health (T1: 4.7% to T2: 0%, p = .002) and poor life satisfaction (T1: 15.4% to T2: 25.4%, p = .002) worsened over time, moderate-to-severe anxiety remained stable (T1: 26.1% to T2: 30.2%, p = .15). Low psychological detachment from work was more prevalent in the first wave (T1: 21.4% and T2: 16.0%), with a moderate improvement observed from T1 to T2 (t (129) = -7.09, p < .001). No differences were observed with work status (employed/self-employed), except for self-employed workers being more likely to report poor general health at T1 (16.1%, p = .002). Better psychological wellbeing, lower anxiety and higher life satisfaction at T2 were observed in those who reported better psychological detachment from work at T1 (β = .21, p = .01; β = -.43, p < .001; β = .32, p = .003, respectively), and in those who improved in this recovery activity from T1 to T2 (β = .36, p < .001; β = -.27, p < .001; β = .27, p = .008, respectively), controlling for age, gender and ethnicity.

CONCLUSION

The ability to psychologically detach from work during the first pandemic lockdown, and improvement in this recovery activity over time, predicted better mental wellbeing and quality of life in vocationally active adults after one year of a global crisis, irrespective of work status. Interventions to encourage workers to psychologically detach from work may help to support employee wellbeing at all times, not only in the extreme circumstances of pandemics and economic uncertainty.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Teaching, Learning, Assessment, and Wellbeing in Higher Education

Lockdown restrictions and social distancing regulations enforced by governments worldwide to prevent COVID-19 transmission have caused momentous disruption to the global education sector. Educators and students across all institutions and levels had to suddenly adapt to a new reality where in-person teaching was replaced by hybrid or remote learning activities. This chapter aims to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on teaching, learning and assessment in higher education. It discusses the challenges presented by the shift to online teaching and the pedagogical strategies developed to foster student engagement and assess their progress in a remote learning setting. Moreover, this chapter explores the impact of the pandemic on wellbeing and mental health of students and academic staff. The last section draws on the lessons learned from the pandemic to identify areas of good practice that are likely to positively shape the post-pandemic higher education panorama.

The relationship between homeworking during COVID-19 and both, mental health, and productivity: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

As of March 2020, the UK public were instructed to work from home where possible and as a result, nearly half of those in employment did so during the following month. Pre-pandemic, around 5% of workers chose to work from home; it was often seen as advantageous, for example due to eliminating commuting time and increasing flexibility. However, homeworking also had negative connotations, for example, blurred boundaries between work and home life due to a sense of constant connectivity to the workplace. Understanding the psychological impact of working from home in an enforced and prolonged manner due to the COVID-19 pandemic is important. Therefore, this review sought to establish the relationship between working from home, mental health, and productivity.

METHODS

In January 2022, literature searches were conducted across four electronic databases: Medline, Embase, PsycInfo and Web of Science. In February 2022 grey literature searches were conducted using Google Advanced Search, NHS Evidence; Gov.uk Publications and the British Library directory of online doctoral theses. Published and unpublished literature which collected data after March 2020, included participants who experienced working from home for at least some of their working hours, and detailed the association in terms of mental health or productivity were included.

RESULTS

In total 6,906 citations were screened and 25 papers from electronic databases were included. Grey literature searching resulted in two additional papers. Therefore, 27 studies were included in this review. Findings suggest the association between homeworking and both, mental health and productivity varies considerably, suggesting a complex relationship, with many factors (e.g., demographics, occupation) having an influence on the relationship.

CONCLUSION

We found that there was no clear consensus as to the association between working from home and mental health or productivity. However, there are indications that those who start homeworking for the first time during a pandemic are at risk of poor productivity, as are those who experience poor mental health. Suggestions for future research are suggested.

Worker’s Satisfaction and Intention toward Working from Home—Foreign Non-EU Citizens vs. National Workers’ Approach: Case Study of Central European Countries (Visegrád Group (V4))

The COVID-19 lockdown has brought about many sudden changes in the social and work environment, causing organizations and businesses to change work conditions to adapt to the new situation which has affected millions of workers who shifted to telework. The teleworkers’ variations in gender, age, residency situation, status as national or foreign employees, and many other aspects create differences in their response toward the telework experience. This study attempts to fill the literature gap concerning the differentiation in response between national and foreign employees’ satisfaction with the working from home experience and their future intention to work from home, with a case study of the Visegrád Group as an example from Central European countries. The study found that 84.4% of teleworkers were satisfied with working from home, but no significant difference was found between national and foreign teleworkers in their satisfaction with the telework experience; this satisfaction mainly derives from allocating the gained time to social–personal activities. A surprising result presented by this research is that, in spite of the fact that foreign non-EU-citizen workers were satisfied with the teleworking experience, they do not tend to work from home due to fears of losing their jobs and residence permits, whereas national teleworkers have the intention to work from home if given the opportunity. Another important addition of this study is the development of a new scale specifically for measuring employee satisfaction with working from home instead of using traditional job satisfaction scales.

“Make it possible for more people to work at home!” representations of employee motivation and job satisfaction in Danish and Norwegian newspapers during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees with task-based jobs were forced to work from home, while others were furloughed or laid off. The current study aims to investigate how Norwegian and Danish newspapers represent employee motivation and job satisfaction of remote workers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used a thematic analysis of five newspapers from Norway and Denmark with different daily distributions and political orientations. The findings suggest that the newspapers in the two countries represented the topic of interest from different perspectives, and this led to the use of two motivation theories: the self-determination theory (SDT) and Herzberg’s two-factor theory. The SDT helps us understand why some employees feel motivated and are more productive while working from home. The need for autonomy, competence, and connectedness is being satisfied for some employees but not for all, which may affect the strength of employees’ job motivation. Herzberg’s theory helps explain physical and psychological issues as dissatisfiers, as these issues are the consequence of working in a home-based office. Furthermore, a hybrid model seems to be an optimal solution for the future job market, where employees with task-based jobs can feel motivated and job satisfied while working either from home or from the workplace. Finally, it is important for employers to look after both the physical and the psychosocial conditions if hybrid solutions are going to replace the traditional workplace.

The role of coworking spaces in the changing landscape of future workplace agility: linking boundary organization theory and organizational development models

Purpose

This study aims to illustrate the potential of coworking spaces as one way to achieve optimal workplace arrangements and corporate real estate (CRE) agility, especially for large organizations. The authors suggest understanding coworking spaces from the boundary organization theory and organizational growth model.

Design/methodology/approach

This study takes a threefold theoretical approach: conducting a literature review and identifying the gaps in coworking studies for large organizations, applying the organizational boundary theory in tandem with organizational growth models in the context of coworking spaces as a part of the workplace ecology and identifying future research agendas for coworking studies.

Findings

This study proposes a conceptual framework of how coworking spaces can be viewed and used as a boundary object throughout the organizational growth phases. Besides, four major future research areas are proposed: case studies and/or empirical evidence of coworking spaces as CRE buffer zones and boundary objects for organizations, coworking space design and different formats of boundary object-infused collaboration, coworking space design and management for its own agility and flexibility and how coworking affects employees’ performance, health and well-being and professional training/mentoring.

Practical implications

For large organizations, there is a clear pressure to rethink CRE to increase workplace agility, flexibility and resilience, much accelerated with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the effective use of coworking spaces as a part of CRE portfolios will help enhance corporates’ state and ability to reassess, realign and replan their CRE portfolios.

Originality/value

Many existing studies about coworking spaces are based on observations and self-reported justification at an individual level. Whether and how coworking can benefit companies at an organizational level is largely unstudied and worth more attention. This study illustrates a new theoretical understanding of how coworking spaces can be a part of CRE portfolios and bring potential benefits of inter and intraorganizational collaboration throughout the phases of organizational growth.