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Healthy and Happy Working from Home? Effects of Working from Home on Employee Health and Job Satisfaction
Open accessAbstract
In addition to its catastrophic health effects, the COVID-19 pandemic also acts as a catalyst for new forms of work. Working from home (WFH) has become commonplace for many people worldwide. But under what circumstances is WFH beneficial and when does it increase harms to health? The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of specific characteristics of WFH for health (work ability, stress-related physical and psychological symptoms) and job satisfaction among German employees. The study is based on data from a Germany-wide panel survey with employees from different industries (n = 519). Using multiple regressions, it was found that the functionality of the technical equipment at home has positive effects on the health of employees (i.e., ability to work, stress-related symptoms) and job satisfaction. The percentual weekly amount of WFH influences stress-related symptoms, i.e., a higher amount of weekly working time WFH, was associated with more stress-related symptoms. Furthermore, it negatively influences job satisfaction. The feeling of increased autonomy leads to positive effects on employees’ job satisfaction. The results provide starting points for interventions and indicate the need for legal regulations for WFH. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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“On the other hand, studies revealed that a high weekly amount of working hours from home is associated with greater stress-related symptoms and negatively influences job satisfaction [3].”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Niebuhr, F., Borle, P., Börner-Zobel, F., & Voelter-Mahlknecht, S.
- Affiliations
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Institute of Occupational Medicine, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
- Corresponding author
- Niebuhr, Fiona
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-01-20
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1122
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8834350
- OpenAlex
- W4206726490
- Cited by
- 155
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 16
- FWCI
- 49.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Work-Family Balance Challenges
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Technostress in Professional Settings
- Keywords
- working from home, employee health, job satisfaction, work ability, stress-related symptoms, psychological symptoms, somatic symptoms, home office equipment, autonomy, COVID-19 pandemic, remote work, legal regulation of remote work
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Humans, Job Satisfaction, Occupational Health, Pandemics
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