The positive and negative health outcomes of working from home

There are a number of productivity-related studies on the benefits of working from home. A new study, however, has revealed the various health outcomes.

A large review has revealed the numerous health outcomes of working from home. The review, led by Charlotte Hall, considered 1,930 academic papers on home working, teleworking and other types of hybrid/home working roles. The review includes a large number of results and data paired with recommendations for employees and employers as they continue to work from home (WFH).

The results

The study revealed that WFH had numerous impacts on a number of health and wellbeing characteristics. Overall health, mental health, healthier eating, stress, blood pressure, and weight gain were all featured and were implications that were considered during the review.

Some standouts from the review were that people working from home experienced less risk of developing poor health (based on underlying health risk factors) than office workers, while teleworkers believed themselves to be more “fit to work” at home compared with when they worked in an office.

Those with chronic illnesses found themselves fitter to WFH than the office. WFH also created better eating behaviours, compared with co-working spaces. Respondents also experienced better emotional and motivational outcomes on home-working days compared with office-working days.

There was another side to the review that highlighted the potential downfalls of working from home.

Weight gain was reported in around half (46.9 per cent) of a study population of employees who transitioned to WFH due to COVID-19. This was also supported by another study that established a 41 per cent account of weight gain in respondents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 could have created other circumstances that would result in overeating, such as added stress, fear, and sickness; however, the statistics are still alarming.

Another negative effect of WFH was that employees were less likely to have breaks, which, of course, have the potential to create physical health issues.

Employees that WFH would also tend to work while they were ill or their health and wellbeing weren’t functioning at the highest capacity; this would often create presenteeism, which has negative impacts on the company the employee represents.

The results overall are quite mixed, with some positives and negatives. The review also featured recommendations to counteract the negative health outcomes that are arising from WFH.

Recommendations

In terms of the lack of breaks, employers must be proactive in sending regular reminders like emails, staff newsletters, calendar reminders, and even informal chats to ensure that their employees are taking breaks.

Relating to employees’ lack of self-care when it came to taking off work due to illness, managers must set examples and act as role models for healthy behaviour.

All employees should view WFH just as they would as office work in terms of illness and take regular breaks and sick leave if necessary. It’s imperative that managers find insightful ways to communicate this to their employees in a WFH context.

Professor Neil Greenberg, a psychiatrist at King’s College London and one of the study’s authors, said the study showed that workers and employers needed to start considering home working with the same seriousness as they did office working.

“Now that we’ve shifted to a home-working culture, it makes sense for organisations and the government to make sure that people who are home working are doing it in as effective a way as possible,” Professor Greenberg said.

Mental health is so important when working at home. Employees must be provided with adequate resources and guidance to ensure that they have the skills to maintain their mental health and psychological resilience in what can become and feel like a very isolated environment.

This tailored guidance must be given to the employee who is working from home so they acknowledge how to maintain those health behaviours like taking breaks and taking care of their health and wellbeing.

Working from home can prove to be a very productive, healthy and comfortable setting for employees. However, direct ownership must be taken by both the worker and the manager to ensure that they don’t slip into unhealthy routines that can have detrimental health and wellbeing impacts.