Boredom, money and health worries affecting lockdown wellbeing

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Money worries, boredom and worsening physical health were the biggest factors affecting employee wellbeing during the first Covid-19 lockdown, research has found. Emlyon Business School in Lyon, France, conducted a survey of more than 1,000 workers across the UK and France in May 2020, and found that precarious work, insecure finances, boredom at work and in free time, and physical health concerns had the biggest impact on how staff rated their wellbeing. The respondents worked in a number of different roles, including managers and highly skilled professionals, clerks and administrative assistants, skilled manual workers, teachers, nurses and service workers. The researchers were surprised to find that socioeconomic status and job type had no correlation to how employees rated their wellbeing. Most respondents said the lockdown had a positive impact on their wellbeing, with reasons for this including increased finances and a busy but interesting experience at work. Five “wellbeing profiles” were investigated by researchers. These included: moderately positive (67% of respondents), languishing (18%), flourishing (8%), mixed feelings (4%), and apathetic (3%). The study, published in the Frontiers of Psychology journal, found that more affluent employees might be better able to protect their wellbeing from the adverse effects of crises such as pandemics. Lotta Harju, professor of organisational behavior at Emlyon Business School said: “There were, of course, many employees who were thriving during the first Covid-19 lockdown. This may be due to a shift for working from home, removing long commutes, allowing more family time. These respondents also reported a slight decrease in their workloads, relative financial stability, and stable physical health.”