Changes in employee wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a study of healthcare staff, education staff and salespeople

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures immediately caused major changes in March 2020. There are signs that these changes have a negative effect on well-being. However, some studies contradict this, particularly those among the working population. The pandemic may actually turn out favorably for some groups, distorting the overall picture. In this study, we focus on three professions in which the COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures are known to have a direct effect on their work tasks and amount of work: healthcare workers, teachers and sales workers. Using GEE analyzes, we investigated whether there is a significant decrease in well-being and a change in working conditions and to what extent the working conditions are related to well-being. The results showed that there is only a limited decrease in well-being. Only for burn- out complaints, a deterioration was found among healthcare staff and sales people. Working conditions mainly showed a favorable change in all professions, except for autonomy. Autonomy decreased in all professions. Although we did find a relationship between the examined working conditions and burn-out complaints, we cannot explain the developments in well- being by the change in working conditions.

Working from home during the COVID -19 pandemic in the Netherlands

Introduction: The call to work from home was one of the measures taken by the Dutch government. Almost 50% of the Dutch workers did so. Although working from home was already common in the Netherlands, the number of homeworkers and the number of hours they worked from home increased significantly. This paper provides an overview of changes in working conditions and health of homeworkers in the Netherlands between 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and March 2021. Materials and Methods: For this, the NWCS-COVID-19 cohort study is used. This study is a follow up study of an annual survey conducted by TNO and Statistics Netherlands among a representative group of workers in the Netherlands (the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NWCS). For the NWCS-COVID-19, a group of participants of the NWCS 2019 was approached again in June 2020, October 2020 and March 2021. 8,911 respondents provided data in all four waves. Results: The results show both improvements and deteriorations of working conditions and health and wellbeing. For example: compared to the pre-pandemic period respondents reported more sedentary behaviour. Workers with young children struggled with work-life balance during the first wave. Homeworkers report a good health and less MSD’s than before the crisis. Work related stress did not increase. Some groups, however, do feel lonely and miss connection with work. Conclusions: The expectation is that home working will be more common in the future than before the pandemic. In organizing this hybrid way of working, we must ensure that positive effects of home working are maintained and negative ones are minimized.

Changes in employee well-being during the covid-19 pandemic: A study among healthcare workers, teachers and sales workers

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures immediately caused major changes in March 2020. There are signs that these changes have a negative ef fect on well-being. However, some studies contradict this, particularly those among the working population. The pandemic may actually turn out favorably for some groups, distorting the overall picture. In this study, we focus on three professions in which the COVID-19 pandemic and associated measures are known to have a direct effect on their work tasks and amount of work: healthcare workers, teachers and sales workers. Using GEE analyzes, we investigated whether there is a signif icant decrease in well-being and a change in working conditions and to what extent the working conditions are related to well-being. The results showed that there is only a limited decrease in well-being. Only for burn-out complaints, a deterioration was found among healthcare staff and sales people. Working conditions mainly showed a favorable change in all professions, except for autonomy. Autonomy decreased in all professions. Although we did f ind a relationship between the examined working conditions and burn-out complaints, we cannot explain the developments in well-being by the change in working conditions. © Swenneke van den Heuvel, Luuk Bouwens, Iris Eekhout, Thijmen Zoomer, Wendela Hooftman & Karen Oude Hengel.