Workplace Wellbeing: Navigating work from your living room 

The dean of J. E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at the University of Galway, Prof Alma McCarthy, who carried out this research, believes these figures demonstrate how working from home has become the new norm.

“If their remote or hybrid working preferences weren’t facilitated, 44% of survey respondents stated they would change jobs even if it meant a pay cut and 55% said they would change jobs even if it meant fewer promotion opportunities,” she says.

 “For roles that can be done on a hybrid or remote basis, working from home is here to stay.”

This change in work practices has impacted our wider lives. A review of 1,930 academic papers on hybrid and remote working was recently published in Britain, highlighting positive and negative effects.

“Take people’s health, for example,” says Prof Neil Greenberg, a clinical and academic psychiatrist at King’s College and a co-author of the review. 

“Working from home allows people to eat more healthily and feel less stress. But, the review also found that people are more likely to snack, drink more alcohol, and smoke more. Because they no longer commute or move around the office at work, they are less physically active and more sedentary and can end up putting on weight.”

There are mental health effects, too. “Social interactions happen in a natural and unplanned way in the office,” says Greenberg. 

“People can feel lonely and isolated if they don’t get a chance to connect with others in that way.”

Even though working from home was forced upon us by covid, Greenberg thinks it was a phenomenon that was just waiting to happen. 

“It seems ridiculous now to think that we used to take the day off work just to let the plumber in to fix the washing machine,” he says. 

“There was no reason why most of us couldn’t have worked from home.” The technology was already in place to support the shift. “I’d never used Microsoft Teams before the pandemic,” says Greenberg. “I don’t think I was even aware of it but it was there.

“Our technological environment meant the office didn’t have to be central to how we worked anymore.”

At the outset, some organisations worried their employees might slack off when working from home but research shows that their fears were unfounded. “People actually tend to work longer hours, take fewer breaks, and are less likely to take time off sick,” says Greenberg.

Positive development

Fiona Higgins, head of Ibec’s Knowledge Centre, points to how working from home has proven to be a positive development. 

“For the majority of employees, there’s a reduction in commuting time, cost, and carbon emissions,” she says. 

“The time and energy saved allows workers to achieve an improved balance between work and home life responsibilities. The ability to work remotely enhances labour market participation for individuals with disabilities and caregiving responsibilities. And overall, it’s been shown to contribute to better job satisfaction and employee morale.”

Yet there are also significant drawbacks to working from home. Greenberg cites people’s worries about being overlooked for promotion as an example. “Our research shows that they fear being forgotten and that affects their career prospects,” he says.

“Disconnection and social isolation are also concerns,” says Higgins. “While technology can be highly effective and contribute to productivity, there is no substitute for bringing people together for the purpose of innovation and learning. It’s especially important for onboarding new employees who learn a lot from observing and engaging with colleagues.”

According to Dr Na Fu, associate professor in human resource management at Trinity College Dublin, maximising the potential offered by remote and hybrid working is about striking the right balance.

“There are so many benefits,” she says. “As long as you have a properly equipped workspace, you can be more productive at home. Thanks to the likes of Teams, LinkedIn, and social media, you can build a much wider professional network. But without the opportunity to socialise, newcomers don’t have the ability to learn institutional knowledge. There are fewer opportunities for teams to form, brainstorm or perform. 

"Employers can counter this by consulting with their employees and working together to build the working model that suits them best.”

In most cases, the outcome will involve a blend of working from home and working in the office. 

“Some companies are now stipulating certain days of the week or month that employees have to work in the office, while others are allowing teams to decide for themselves,” says Fu. “There are also organisations that are taking a softer approach, organising events, activities, and seminars to entice people to return.”

The most successful organisations will engage in ongoing dialogue with staff about hybrid working, says Fu. 

“We’re still in an experimental phase where everyone is learning how to balance productivity, social connection and finding motivation and meaning in work with the flexibility and convenience of working from home. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Managers and employees will have to figure out what works for their specific circumstances.”

Transitionary period

Dr Wladislaw Rivkin, an associate professor in organisational behaviour at TCD, advises employees to assess which ways of working suit them best. 

“There’s a spectrum with integrators on one end and segmentators on the other, and we all fall somewhere in between,” he says.

“Segmentators are those who go to work, focus on their work and don’t even check their phones for messages from home until it’s time to finish work and switch off. Integrators, on the other hand, do their work but also check personal emails and make online grocery orders between tasks. They can have difficulty switching off and often check work emails outside of work hours.”

Rivkin explains that integrators like the flexibility offered by remote work. “But it can be a problem for segmentators when work intrudes on their personal life,” he says. “They find it difficult to focus when boundaries are blurred.”

Being aware of your tendencies can help you to design your work environment accordingly.

“Segmentators need to have space to work undisturbed,” says Rivkin. “If that’s not possible at home, remote working won’t be satisfying or productive for them.”

Integrators have different challenges. “They often struggle with detaching from work and need to learn how and when to set boundaries,” he says.

Higgins believes we are at the beginning of a transitionary period. 

“Every aspect of flexible and hybrid working will be subject to review and analysis over the coming years to determine its success or failure in different sectors and organisations,” she says, pointing out that the Code of Practice for Employers and Employees on the Right to Request Flexible Working and the Right to Request Remote Working, published earlier this year, should help guide us through this process.

“Who knows where we’ll end up,” says Greenberg. “Maybe we’ll have holograms that allow us to be virtually present in the office. 

"The research to date shows us that the idea of travelling to the office to complete a task that can easily be done from home is no longer acceptable to many people. 

"But at the same time, social connection is important. It is not so important that we have to be present in the office for 40 hours a week, but important nonetheless. The challenge facing us now is finding the balance between the two.”