Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

StressResearchCoronavirusStressMental health conditions

Covid-19 worries not only factor affecting remote workers’ wellbeing, finds study

by Ashleigh Webber 24 Nov 2020
by Ashleigh Webber 24 Nov 2020 Image: Shutterstock
Image: Shutterstock

Worries about Covid-19 are affecting wellbeing as employees work from home, but loneliness and having to juggle domestic responsibilities with work are also having an impact.

This is according to research from the University of Exeter Business School and University of Leicester Business School, which was based on data from wellbeing questionnaires and weekly surveys of 835 university employees.

Wellbeing

Nearly half of adults suffering mentally because of poor sleep

Covid-19 fuelling surge in work-related stress across UK and Europe

Preliminary results have shown that around 38% of home workers felt anxious most or all of the time while death figures went up during the early stages of the first lockdown, with 8% saying they felt depressed.

Nearly one in five (17%) reported feeling lonely, while 25.9% said that the competing demands of work and domestic duties, including childcare, had taken their toll on their wellbeing.

Other factors found to have had an impact included the handling of the pandemic by the government and employers and job insecurity.

The research team found these factors also hampered employees’ ability to make decisions and concentrate: 15% said they found it hard to make many decisions on their own and 21% could not decide how best to complete their work.

Professor Ilke Inceoglu at the University of Exeter Business School said: “Our research is important in that it adds to the story of Covid but it also enables us to assess the role of location and whether the Covid-19 pandemic factors over and above conventional job design factors, which is indeed not the case.”

Professor Stephen Wood, from the University of Leicester Business School and principal investigator of the study, added: “The pandemic has contributed to short term fluctuations in the wellbeing of employees working at home, but the factors that affect all jobs, the extent of job discretion, potential loneliness of working alone, and job insecurity remain important and will remain so after the pandemic.”

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor of OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Settled status: are your EU workers ready or at risk?
next post
HR Dept apologises for graphic that ‘upset’ independent consultants

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Australia to ban engineered stone over silicosis fears

15 Dec 2023

Third of hospitality workers regularly break health and...

15 Dec 2023

Pressures of modern-day living pushing more young people...

15 Dec 2023

Hormone identified as cause of pregnancy morning sickness

15 Dec 2023

Climate change could cause 10,000 deaths a year...

11 Dec 2023

Obesity now costing UK plc nearly £100bn, and...

8 Dec 2023

Investment in employee mental health key to tackling...

8 Dec 2023

Opinion: Why can’t OH nurses refer employees directly...

7 Dec 2023

Consider Covid-19 history when screening for HAVS

5 Dec 2023

NHS occupational health working hard to show its...

4 Dec 2023

  • Internal mobility: how to unlock your employees’ potential PROMOTED | Most employers understand...Read more
  • How to spot and tackle imposter syndrome in the workplace PROMOTED | Half of all UK adults...Read more
  • BetterMe for Business: How to Build Wellness Culture at Work PROMOTED | Ever encountered a...Read more
  • Talent acquisition: How AI can complement a ‘back to basics’ approach PROMOTED | Artificial intelligence is now...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today