While the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly triggered a large and lasting shift to working from home (WFH), this type of flexible work arrangement has been rising for years even before the pandemic. A series of studies have examined the influence of WFH on worker well-being leading to very mixed results. We argue that giving workers a choice plays a crucial role in the association between WFH and worker well-being. WFH is more likely to have a positive influence on well-being if the employer offers WFH and workers decide whether or not to use it. Workers may differ in their preferences for WFH. Giving workers a choice over whether to use WFH contributes to more self-determination at work and, hence, improves workers’ well-being. Using regularly WFH statistically significantly decreases job-related anxiety and depression, as well as mental health measured by the likert scale, while for caseness the results are only statistically significant at 10%. When comparing these results to the pandemic period, WFH regularly used still statistically significantly decreased depression at workplace, but the effect is now positive on likert and caseness, indicating a worsening of mental health. Having the option to work from home improves both job-related mental health indicators that the general mental health ones, and this is the case in the pre-pandemic and pandemic period.

Co-authors

Professor Uwe Jirjahn, University of Trier