At work, it’s similar to the coffee walk or trek to the kitchen you take more infrequently than you should. Working remotely may expose you to fewer sick people and germs, allowing you to stay healthy and productive. For this reason, it helps to set space boundaries, including having a separate workspace with its own door, if possible. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of those who are able to do their job remotely are working from home.
- In addition, no latent factors could be formed since relevant factors were represented by only one item each.
- Individuals who have higher levels of job discretion also show a tendency to have higher levels of job satisfaction across the extent of telework spectrum.
- People who have to move frequently, such as military spouses, can also benefit from having a remote job that can be done from anywhere, without having to start over at the bottom of a new company with each move.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. employers are saving over $30 billion per day by allowing employees to work from home.
- On the other hand, telework inherently blurs the spatial boundaries between work and home, thus increasing the likelihood of work–family conflict [19].
- This is because the ability to work from home often provides employees with a better work-life balance, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and motivation.
Additionally, remote work reduces absences, as many people who take a “sick day” are actually taking a day off to manage stress, care for sick children, or address other personal needs (Dionne & Dostie, 2007; Gibson et al., 2002; Global Workplace Analytics, n.d.; Stavrou, 2005). Further reducing absenteeism is the limited transmission of illnesses in workplaces and public transportation. Our company guide can also be a great way to find the best companies for remote work, broken down by industry or location. And if you want to know which companies post the most remote jobs, check out our Top 100 list of companies that posted the most openings for remote roles on our site.
Better work-life balance reduces anxiety and depression
The consequences for the world of work are drastic, and, at the same time, the pandemic is serving as a catalyst for new forms of work and accelerating digitalization. The aim of this study was to increase knowledge about the circumstances under which working from home (WFH) is beneficial to employees’ health and job satisfaction. Considering different and partly contradictory empirical findings on the question of whether WFH is beneficial or detrimental to health, we examined specific factors of WFH and their health effects and influences https://remotemode.net/ on job satisfaction. Following Bonin et al. [9], we examined the intensity of home office work (i.e., the extent of percent time worked in the home office), instead of dichotomously modeling WFH. This article advances the occupational health and public health literature by reviewing empirical studies to explain the relationship between telework and worker health and well-being. There are a variety of components which contribute to our understanding of the benefits and consequences of telework for worker health and well-being.
For instance, when possible, workers may choose to work from a separate room where they may close the door at the end of their workday, or work from a table in a shared room specifically designated for work tasks. Steward [91] also showed that this form of invisibility was related to workers’ likelihood of working while sick. Interview participants and survey respondents indicated that their lack of presence in the office made it harder for them to justify the need to take a formal sick day, and often employees chose to continue working despite malaise.
3. Characteristics of Home Office
When teleworking, individuals whose work is highly interdependent may experience more frustration due to continuous back and forth communication with other members of their organization needed to complete their own work tasks [100]. Golden and Veiga [36] reported that individuals with lower levels of task interdependence typically have higher levels of job satisfaction. This relationship follows the typical curvilinear trend found between extent of telework and job satisfaction. Specifically, individuals with higher task interdependence reflected a slower increase in job how companies benefit when employees work remotely satisfaction and the differential increase between job satisfaction for those with low versus high task interdependence was more pronounced at a higher extent of telework. Despite previous findings regarding the isolating impact of telework on employee well-being [19], Gajendran and Harrison [88] found a positive relationship between telework and employee–supervisor relationships. In their meta-analysis, the quality of the teleworker–supervisor relationship was shown to partially mediate the relationship between telework and job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
Where possible, using a standing desk rather than a sitting desk can help people avoid long periods of physical inactivity. However, it has now become a necessity for many people because it is a key strategy for increasing safety. Staying at home as much as possible greatly reduces a person’s exposure to the novel coronavirus.
The Health Benefits of Working Remotely
Workers have been shown to experience adverse health effects when telework is used as a mechanism to catch up on work after hours or over the weekend. Telework is most beneficial for employee health and well-being when provided as a flexible support and not in lieu of formal support such as paid time-off. Supervisors should remain aware of their employees’ workload, work hours, and teleworking behaviors in order to mitigate instances of employees teleworking after hours to “make up” for missed work due to scheduled work time off, such as vacation, paid time off, or sick time. Research into the extent to which telework is beneficial or detrimental to balancing work and family is largely equivocal in the results. From one perspective, providing flexible work arrangements such as telework is seen as a way to increase work–life balance and reduce work–non-work conflict [2]. On the other hand, telework inherently blurs the spatial boundaries between work and home, thus increasing the likelihood of work–family conflict [19].
More sleep, less stress, more time to exercise, and fewer opportunities to eat out can all lead to more positive mental health outcomes. Moreover, better emotional well-being and physical health can result from spending more time with family and having more disposable income (Johnson & Krueger, 2006; Pantell et al., 2013). Additionally, it appears that we can experience physical and psychological benefits even when we obtain social support virtually (Gilmour et al., 2020). For many employees — and employers — flexibility is a new part of the compensation package and is a powerful tool in terms of employee engagement, retention, and recruiting. Remote and flexible schedules not only provide employees with job satisfaction, better health, increased work-life fit, and less stress, but they also benefit employers through higher productivity levels, decreased turnover, and reduced absenteeism. Remote work options support the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce, are a key element of our commitment to equity and inclusion, and are an integral component for innovation.
Current Review
The coronavirus disease COVID-19, in addition to all the challenges and drastic consequences, also acts as a catalyst for new forms of work. In a European comparison, Germany lagged significantly behind other countries in regard to the possibility of WFH before the COVID-19 pandemic—less than one in two employers offered their employees the option of working from home [2]. For example, many companies allowed their employees to work from home to reduce the risk of infection [3]. More than half of all employees in Germany have potential access to a home office in principle, but this potential was barely realized before COVID-19 [2].
With remote working, employees can be evaluated more on the quality of their work, increasing meritocracy and equity. Job characteristics, and especially autonomy, are important for fostering positive worker health and well-being. Job autonomy is related to better job satisfaction, less work/family conflict, and reduced worker stress.