Our research shows home working didn't harm mental health at the start of the pandemic – but things changed later on
Retrieved on:
星期四, 五月 11, 2023
Steps, Male, Generation Scotland, Employment, Area studies, Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, 1970 British Cohort Study, Research, Loneliness, COVID, National Child Development Study, Next Step Realty, CQD, Population, Time, Risk, Ageing, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, Cohort study, Mental health, Female, Fatigue, Nursing, Pharmaceutical industry, Video game
According to UK data, almost 60% of people were working fully or partially from home between April and June 2020.
Key Points:
- According to UK data, almost 60% of people were working fully or partially from home between April and June 2020.
- Between September 2022 and January 2023, 16% of working adults in the UK reported working fully from home, and 28% working partially from home.
- My colleagues and I wanted to understand how home working correlated with mental health and social wellbeing during the pandemic.
Changes over time
- Our findings show the relationship between home working and mental health changed over the course of the pandemic.
- In both April-June and July-October 2020, we found no significant difference between those working from home and those working at their employer’s premises.
- For example, it’s possible that during the first lockdown, working from home was novel for some people.
Some nuances
- For example, female workers were at higher risk of psychological distress and low life satisfaction compared with male workers, independently of whether they worked from home or not.
- This echoes other research which has shown women’s mental health deteriorated disproportionately at the height of the pandemic.
Limitations and where to next
- We might expect that people who had previously worked from home may have been less directly affected by the pandemic shift to home working.
- However, no information on pre-pandemic home working was available for six of the seven studies.
- Notably, some people may be at greater risk – in particular, female workers and those without a higher education degree.