ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study examines the relationship between perceived demands (workload and organizational constraints) of teachers' work during the online period of schooling during the COVID-19 crisis and well-being (emotions, engagement, and job crafting), with work passion as a mediator. METHODS: The survey was carried out on a sample of 383 teachers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scale of Organizational Constraints and the Workload Scale, the Passion Scale adapted for work, the Job Crafting Questionnaire, the Utrecht Scale of Work Engagement, and the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience was used. RESULTS: Harmonious passion strengthened the positive relationships between workload and organizational constraints and job crafting and weakened the negative relationship with positive emotions and the positive one with negative emotions. The positive relationship between workload and engagement has been strengthened by harmonious passion. The negative relationship between organizational constraints and engagement became positive and weaker. Relationships between variables were weakened, i.e., workload and engagement, organizational constraints and job crafting, or strengthened, i.e., organizational constraints and engagement, by an obsessive passion. In tested models, obsessive passion has the opposite effect and is weaker than harmonious passion. CONCLUSION: The structural equation modeling (SEM) confirmed that work passion, mainly harmonious, is a mechanism explaining the relationship between the demands of forced work from home with teachers' well-being.