Study: Working from home makes employees productive, but also causes stress

Hybrid working is a double-edged sword for employees: switching between home office and company office makes employees more productive over time, according to their own assessment. However, the number of employees who find it harder to switch off and feel stressed is also increasing. This is the result of the long-term study "social health@work", which was conducted by a research center on occupational topics at the University of St. Gallen in cooperation with the Barmer health insurance company. According to the study, the proportion of respondents who rate their work performance positively has risen from 57% to 60% since mid-2022. At the same time, however, the proportion of those who were able to forget about work in their spare time without much effort has fallen from 53% to 47%.

As part of the study, the research team spent four years investigating social health in the workplace and the impact of digitalization and flexibilization on the world of work. More than 8,000 employees in Germany were surveyed every six months. According to the researchers, this sample is representative of the part of the German working population for whom mobile working is a possibility in principle. According to the results that have now been published, the data on productivity and recovery over time point to a typical area of tension: "Over the course of the last four waves of the survey, employees are on average increasingly committed and consider themselves to be more successful at work." At the same time, however, the proportion of those who feel "emotionally exhausted" after work has risen slightly from 23% to 24% and now accounts for almost a quarter of the workforce.

"Telepressure" increases in the home office

The researchers explain that mobile working makes it "always and everywhere possible" to quickly check emails in between work. So "even at dinner with the family, on the weekend or on vacation". If such violations of the boundaries between work and private life increase, this in turn increases what is known as "telepressure". This is the pressure "that employees feel to be constantly available for work and to respond quickly to work requests – even in their spare time". Downstream, this increases "emotional exhaustion, which is a significant risk factor for burnout". According to another study, most German companies (60.1 percent) expect productivity to remain the same if their employees return to the office full-time.

Ultimately, the new study also indicates that it is crucial how individuals, managers, teams and organizations deal with the relevant challenges "so that employees can make healthy use of the benefits of increased flexibility". For example, the experts recommend "actively" organizing leisure time. It is also beneficial to separate work and career in terms of time and place, and to mentally tune into the creative process at the start of each working day. Managers need to ensure that teams feel connected and can work together effectively despite physical distance and different needs.

In all eight survey waves, around 60 percent of respondents worked remotely. The analysis shows that working from home is therefore popular beyond the pandemic. The desire for mobile working remains constant, with 2 to 2.5 days per week emerging as the preferred amount of time spent working from home each week. While the proportion of actual mobile working rose to an average of up to 36% in the first four waves during the coronavirus pandemic (equivalent to 1.8 working days in a 5-day week), it recently stabilized at 28% (equivalent to 1.4 days). Throughout the entire survey period, around 50 percent of respondents also stated that their direct superiors attached great importance to the presence of team members in the office.

(nie)