Until recently (as far as I know – tips very welcome in the comments!), there have been no really good studies showing that working from home has an impact (positive or negative) on workers’ health.
Since there has been a huge increase in the number of home workers during the corona epidemic, there have been several studies that have tried to make a connection between health and working from home/office.
I looked through some studies. What is the conclusion – does working from home have a negative impact on health? Surely it seems so, with quite a few caveats.
RIVM 🇳🇱: ‘Home workers more likely to suffer health problems’
In the Netherlands, the RIVM analysed the difference in health complaints between home workers and those who worked on location during the corona epidemic. Using quite a bit of data (from the large-scale Lifelines Corona study), they showed that people who worked from home were more likely to have physical complaints than those who did not work from home. By the way, the headline of the article (“thuiswerkers hebben meer kans op gezondheidsklachten“) is a lot more convincing than the rest of the study.
Some of the complaints that were particularly noted more: back pain and pain in arms, neck and/or shoulders. This is partly because home workers simply sit more than those who work on location (I assume that included people like park workers and the like). So I don’t find that very convincing myself. A more relevant finding: hybrid workers (people who work both at home and on location) and those who worked on location also had more health complaints than location workers, but significantly less.
RIVM concludes that it is important for employers to pay extra attention to the exercise and sitting behaviour and workplace of home workers. Totally agree, of course!
ONS 🇬🇧: ‘more back and neck pain due to working from home’
In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) finds that during the corona period, there was a sizeable (20%) increase in the number of people who dropped out due to health problems in in the period from 2019 to 2022, and especially after the start of the corona epidemic. There seems to be a clear link between working from home and an increase in back and neck pain and mental health problems.
Other research
A few other smaller studies showing a link between a change in health and working from home during the corona epidemic:
- In a survey of 1,000 adults (18 to 29 years old) in the UK, 63.7% of respondents reported having back pain they did not have before the pandemic.
- A survey of 26,000 people in Japan who work at a computer showed a clear relationship between working more from home and lower back pain.
My conclusion
Can we now conclude that working more from home has a negative impact on health? All the studies mentioned here were done in corona times, a not ‘normal’ time when many mental health complaints also occurred that are now much less present in home workers.
Home workers were less able to go out to exercise or exercise. I think if the studies were re-run now, the results would be totally different now. I personally see that some of the home workers are much healthier by working partly from home and some are not. Working from home is not for everyone. I am in favour of allowing employees to decide more for themselves what works best for them.
But I think we can still tentatively conclude from the above studies that long-term working from home leads to more physical and mental problems. It also makes sense: the home workplace is often worse off than the office workplace.
CNV concluded in a major survey of its members in 2021 that 45% do not have a proper workstation (link in Dutch). I personally think a bigger problem is that home workers do not know what to do to work in a healthy way at home.
A solution: online workstation assessments
Setting up a workplace at home with the same conditions and equipment as in the office is not an option for most employees. Expensive ergonomic aids such as tables and chairs are also usually unnecessary, in my opinion.
During an online workstation assessment, I can efficiently and inexpensively (€75 for a 45-minute session) check the home workplace of you and your colleagues so that you can create a responsible workplace with the equipment you have available at home. I give tips on exercise but also on well-being. Interesting for your company? I would be happy to tell you more!