Public health initiatives needed to promote healthy working at home, say researchers

Home-worker’s perceptions of their workload and their ability to switch off after the working day are among a list of factors associated with health and well-being related behaviors.

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has found that home-worker’s perceptions of their workload and their ability to switch off after the working day are among a list of factors associated with health and well-being related behaviors.

The research, published in Behavioural Sciences, highlights how there can be clear positives to home-working when there are organizational policies in place that support practices conducive to a worker’s health and well-being.

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown led to a sharp rise in home-working among employees that would normally be office based. While extensive research has been conducted on promoting health and well-being among office workers, public health initiatives have largely overlooked the potential impact of home-working on health.

Researchers in this study wanted to establish the acute psychological effects of home-working on health and well-being related behaviors to better understand how these responses interact with one another.

In all, 491 participants were surveyed on a range of psychological responses to home-working practices and health-related behaviors, including measuring how capable home-workers were able to transform workspaces, the amount of time they remained sedentary during the working day, and the quality of their sleep. Analyses revealed the psychological responses to home-working practices could be grouped into four distinct clusters:

1. Home-working independence
2. Home-working transition
3. Daily work pressure
4. Work-day forecast

Dr. Samuel Keightley, the study’s first author from King’s IoPPN said, “This study illustrates that home-working exhibits similar but unique patterns, highlighting distinct responses to home-working practices that influence the health and well-being of home-based workers. These findings underscore the need to better understand and adjust home-working practices to support healthy behaviors and overall well-being.”

Researchers established a complex picture of associated behaviors. A worker’s perception of their workload manageability, an inability to feel like they can switch off in the evening, and a lack of autonomy all had cascading effects on health behaviors such as sitting and physical activity, and aspects of work-related well-being such as stress and burnout.

In contrast, participants who said that they were able to plan their working day had increased job satisfaction and well-being as well as a reduction in work-related and overall sedentary behavior.

Dr. Myanna Duncan, an Associate Professor in Occupational Psychology at King’s IoPPN and the study’s senior author said, “This study does not conclude that home working is inherently good or bad. Home-working has the potential to negatively impact certain health behaviors, which in the longer term could result in increased levels of stress and burnout.

“Equally, those participants who felt they had greater autonomy over their working day were associated with greater satisfaction and better health behaviors.

“If home working is to continue, it is vital that public health initiatives reflect the nuanced stressors that they can present to ensure that the benefits are maximized.”