To Change or Not to Change: A Study of Workplace Change during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Shu Da,Irina Wara,Siw Tone Innstrand,Marit Christensen,Silje Fossum Fladmark

doi:10.3390/ijerph19041982

Abstract

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were suddenly required to work more from home. Previous literature on working from home may not be applicable to this mandatory and overall change. In this study, we drew on the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model to explore the relationships between job demands (workload and work–home conflict) as well as resources (support from leaders, coworkers, and the family) and wellbeing (burnout and work engagement) in employees who still went to the workplace (no-change group) and employees who transitioned into working from home (change group) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed with multivariate structural equation modeling. The results indicate that work–home conflict was detrimental for employee wellbeing in both groups. Interestingly, the workload seems to contribute to work engagement for employees who worked from home. Regarding the resources, the three different sources of social support, leaders, coworkers, and family, were all related to employee wellbeing, but in different ways. It seemed that family support was most important for employees’ wellbeing in the change group. This study presents implications for the wellbeing of employees in both the change and no-change group during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of family-friendly policies.

Highlights

IntroductionWorking From Home (WFH), which refers to work performed at a remote location (such as home) [1], is not a novel concept
We aimed to explore the importance of workload, work–home conflict (WHC), and social support, including leader support, coworker support, and family–work facilitation (FWF), in relation to wellbeing among employees who still went to the workplace and employees who transitioned to Working From Home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic
The aim of this study was to contribute to the literature on working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

Working From Home (WFH), which refers to work performed at a remote location (such as home) [1], is not a novel concept. The benefits of WFH may include increased job satisfaction, reduced travel time and expenses, increased productivity, and reduced turnover and absenteeism [2–5]. The drawbacks of WFH may include isolation from the work culture, potential conflicts between work and home, a lack of control over employees, difficulties in teamwork, and so on [2]. A meta-analysis [3] demonstrated that WFH had small but mainly beneficial effects on proximal outcomes, such as perceived autonomy and (decreased) work–home conflict. WFH had beneficial effects on more distal outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, turnover intention, and role stress.

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Conclusion