Well-being at work and home-working

Drs Emma Russell and Chidiebere Ogbonnaya explore the expanding role of home-working and its effects on our mental health and well-being.

With almost all facets of society affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the world of work is no exception. A seismic shift occurred almost overnight as national lockdowns came into force. For many, this was a sudden paralysis or even permanent end to their business or employment. For others - mainly office workers – it was a shift to home-working.  

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, remote working is set to play an ever-expanding role in the economy and in our daily lives. In fact, with the aid of technologies, there may be a  permanent shift in the way we see the traditional office workplace.  

Video conferencing and electronic messages - accessed via computer and smartphones alike – have become the staple tools for communication, co-ordinating project work, relationship management, information sharing, and teamwork.  

This raises the need for implementing effective strategies to manage digital communications, both for personal well-being and organisational performance.   

Individual differences

Dr Emma Russell’s research has explored individual differences (e.g. personality traits) in the actions that people use to deal with work-email, and how different actions impact people’s goals differently. Dr Russell’s studies have found that work-email activity largely depends on the resources that people have available to them, and the goals that people are striving towards.   

For example, a recently published study found that people who have ‘agreeable’ personalities prioritise goals that show concern for others. As such, they may be more likely to send work-messages that are short, simple and succinct, and less likely to ignore others’ email. More conscientious people (hard working and achievement-focused) will prioritise work goals, and as such may be more likely to conduct regular ‘housekeeping’ on their email systems and write lengthy messages that cover multiple points. A previous multi-level study conducted by Dr Russell found that conscientious people were also better disposed to resist incoming digital interruptions, although this had a negative impact on their well-being because they were concerned about the work implications of the ignored messages.  

The notion that people’s salient goals impact strategies for dealing with digital technologies is the basis of a new theory of effective Information Systems activity by Dr Russell (currently under review). The theory suggests that when individuals have access to resources and control (such as autonomy, variety, skill use, and social support) they are better able to implement actions that will positively impact both their well-being and work goals.   

In examining how people are responding to some of the home-working systems that are currently in use during the pandemic (the enterprise social media contenders such as MS Teams, Slack, Google Meet/Hangouts), it is evident how important resources are to engender effective use. For example, in managing Zoom meetings people need to undertake more self-regulatory behaviours and navigate a new form of social etiquette. This can be resource-intensive and draining, which is potentially why so many people are reporting video-conferencing meetings to be so tiring and depleting at present.   

Mental Health

Dr Chidiebere Ogbonnaya has been studying the effects of remote working on mental health and also finds that the impact of technologies and home working varies widely, with individual personality being a key determinant. Results from a study of data from 3200 workers across Britain found that the more messy and disorganised people are, the more likely they will report mental health problems when working remotely.  

Comparing the data from remote workers to those working from the office, he found some interesting differences. One was that being open to new experiences made remote workers less worried, depressed and miserable than those who worked at the office. Similar differences between remote and office workers were found among people who are agreeable and introverted, but for one mental health condition only — feeling gloomy. Another interesting finding is that neuroticism caused mental health problems for everyone, both remote and office workers alike. The explanation is fairly simple: being moody and easily frustrated puts people at greater risk of feeling worried, depressed and miserable in every context, be it working from home, on the move, or at a physical office location away from home. 

Management

One key takeaway from these studies is that managers need to proceed with caution. They must understand that remote working is not fine for everyone; some people’s mental health and well-being could be badly affected. Both Dr Russell and Dr Ogbonnaya’s research suggests that there is no one-size-fits-all in terms of psychologically sound ways of working with digital technologies.  

In Dr Russell’s forthcoming book on agile working in the digital age, it is noted how digitalisation can create an ‘always on’ culture, where rather than simply liberating us from traditional work boundaries workers can be enslaved by being available and accessible 24-7. This can mean that people who prefer to stipulate clear work and non-work boundaries can feel stressed by the fact that temporal, physical and psychological divisions between work and home have become blurred. For others who are happy for boundaries to overlap this is much less of a problem. Nevertheless, digitalisation, which affords remote e-working, can lead to a plethora of issues, including work intensification (people tend to work longer and more intensively at home), social and professional isolation, increased sedentary lifestyle and increased musculoskeletal problems (owing to a non-optimal set-up in many people’s homes), and problems of digital distraction.   

However, Dr Russell states that the more resources managers and organisations can provide for people, and the more control people have over their work, the less likely it is that these issues will become problematic. Workers can then choose strategies that best suit their work preferences to help achieve work goals. Organisations can encourage staff to respect each other’s boundary preferences and to communicate these clearly to others in their teams. They can also provide the necessary infrastructure to support people who are home working – checking that environments and equipment are safe, functional, ergonomic, etc. There are also some interesting interventions at the moment in relation to encouraging more physical activity when working from home.  

Dr Ogbonnaya has also studied the consequences of a recession on changes at work and employee well-being and found evidence that employees are likely to report a significant decline in the overall quality of their jobs during periods of economic recession. However, employees are less anxious or frustrated when they feel valued and cared for by the organization.  

As we grapple with the COVID-19 crisis, managers will sooner or later have to make tough decisions that change the future of work – investing in new technologies, cutting financial costs, and increasing staff workloads. Organisations stand to gain from more remote working in terms of productivity and profit, because people tend to work more intensively at home, and because the costs (in terms of estates and buildings) massively reduce. Yet, managers should tread carefully. They must be honest and genuine, and give staff greater certainty about the future. Wouldn’t it be great if employee review processes involved setting objectives relating to how people can improve their well-being, not just their work performance?