Associations Between Telework Experience and Psychosocial Working Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Analysis Among White-Collar Workers in Sweden.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9504688 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1536-5948 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10762752 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Occup Environ Med Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: Hagerstown, MD : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
      Original Publication: Baltimore, MD : Williams & Wilkins, c1995-
    • Subject Terms:
    • Abstract:
      Objectives: The aim of the study are to determine to what extent pre-COVID-19 experience of telework was associated with perceived psychosocial working conditions (PWCs; job demands, social support, and influence at work) during the COVID-19 pandemic among white-collar workers in Sweden and to determine to what extent the association depends on demographic factors, organizational tenure, and amount of computer use.
      Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire data from 603 white-collar workers were collected October to December 2020 in an industrial company.
      Results: In general, telework experience was not significantly associated with PWCs. Women who began teleworking because of COVID-19 reported more job demands than women not teleworking. For those who began teleworking because of COVID-19, managerial support increased with age.
      Conclusions: In general, telework experience was not associated with PWCs, but telework due to COVID-19 may have influenced PWCs differently depending on gender and age.
      Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: None declared.
      (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)
    • References:
      Allen TD, Golden TD, Shockley KM. How effective is telecommuting? Assessing the status of our scientific findings. Psychol Sci Public Interest . 2015;16:40–68.
      Charalampous M, Grant CA, Tramontano C, Michailidis E. Systematically reviewing remote e-workers’ well-being at work: a multidimensional approach. Eur J Work Organ Psy . 2019;28:51–73.
      Gajendran RS, Harrison DA. The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. J Appl Psychol . 2007;92:1524–1541.
      European Commission’s Science and Knowledge Center. Telework in the EU Before and After the COVID-19: Where We Were, Where We Head to . European Commission: Bruxelles, Belgium. 2020:1–8.
      Dey M, Frazis H, Loewenstein MA, Sun H. Ability to work from home. Monthly Labor Review . 2020;1–19.
      Eurofound. Living, working and COVID-19 . Luxembourg: Eurofound, Publications Office of the European Union; 2020.
      Vilhelmson B, Thulin E. Who and where are the flexible workers? Exploring the current diffusion of telework in Sweden. New Technol Work Employment . 2016;31:77–96.
      Ojala S, Pyöriä P. Mobile knowledge workers and traditional mobile workers: assessing the prevalence of multi-locational work in Europe. Acta Sociol . 2018;61:402–418.
      OECD BF. Be Flexible! Background Brief on How Workplace Flexibility Can Help European Employees to Balance Work and Family . OECD Publishing; 2016.
      Ono H, Mori T. COVID-19 and telework: an international comparison. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media . 2021;1–35.
      Statistics Sweden. Labour force surveys. 2021. Available at: https://www.scb.se/link/8e91894b42ee4358a5421637eeebfd51.aspx . Accessed August 30, 2022.
      Schade HM, Digutsch J, Kleinsorge T, Fan Y. Having to work from home: basic needs, well-being, and motivation. Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2021;18:5149.
      McKee H, Gohar B, Appleby R, Nowrouzi-Kia B, Hagen BNM, Jones-Bitton A. High psychosocial work demands, decreased well-being, and perceived well-being needs within veterinary academia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Front Vet . 2021;8:746716.
      Tejero LMS, Seva RR, Fadrilan-Camacho VFF. Factors associated with work-life balance and productivity before and during work from home. J Occup Environ Med . 2021;63:1065–1072.
      Carillo K, Cachat-Rosset G, Marsan J, Saba T, Klarsfeld A. Adjusting to epidemic-induced telework: empirical insights from teleworkers in France. Eur J Inf Syst . 2021;30:69–88.
      van Zoonen W, Sivunen A, Blomqvist K, et al. Factors influencing adjustment to remote work: employees’ initial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2021;18:6966.
      Gerich J. Home-based telework and presenteeism: new lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. J Occup Environ Med . 2022;64:243–249.
      Greer TW, Payne SC. Overcoming telework challenges: outcomes of successful telework strategies. Psychologist-Manager J . 2014;17:87–111.
      Mangia K. Working From Home: Making the New Normal Work for You Hoboken, New Yersey: Wiley; 2020.
      Lautsch BA, Kossek EE, Eaton SC. Supervisory approaches and paradoxes in managing telecommuting implementation. Hum Relat . 2009;62:795–827.
      Sardeshmukh SR, Sharma D, Golden TD. Impact of telework on exhaustion and job engagement: a job demands and job resources model. New Technol Work Employ . 2012;27:193–207.
      Dimitrova D. Controlling teleworkers: supervision and flexibility revisited. New Technol Work Employment . 2003;18:181–195.
      Tietze S, Musson G, Scurry T. Homebased work: a review of research into themes, directions and implications. Personnel Rev . 2009;38:585–604.
      Thatcher SM, Zhu X. Changing identities in a changing workplace: identification, identity enactment, self-verification, and telecommuting. Acad Manage Rev . 2006;31:1076–1088.
      Allen TD, Johnson RC, Kiburz KM, Shockley KM. Work–family conflict and flexible work arrangements: deconstructing flexibility. Pers Psychol . 2013;66:345–376.
      Redman T, Snape E, Ashurst C. Location, location, location: does place of work really matter? Br J Manag . 2009;20:S171–S181.
      Knardahl S, Christensen JO. Working at home and expectations of being available: effects on perceived work environment, turnover intentions, and health. Scand J Work Environ Health . 2021;48:99–108.
      Vander Elst T, Verhoogen R, Sercu M, Van den Broeck A, Baillien E, Godderis L. Not extent of telecommuting, but job characteristics as proximal predictors of work-related well-being. J Occup Environ Med . 2017;59:e180–e186.
      Rieth M, Hagemann V. The impact of telework and closure of educational and childcare facilities on working people during COVID-19. Zeitschrift für Arbeits-und Organisationspsychologie . 2021;65:202–214.
      Dettmers J, Plückhahn W. Suddenly working from home! Effects of thec crisis on psychological job demands and resources and the role of telecommuting. Zeitschrift für Arbeits-und Organisationspsychologie . 2022;66:113–128.
      Antonakis J, Atwater L. Leader distance: a review and a proposed theory. Leadersh Q . 2002;13:673–704.
      Nayani RJ, Nielsen K, Daniels K, Donaldson-Feilder EJ, Lewis RC. Out of sight and out of mind? A literature review of occupational safety and health leadership and management of distributed workers. Work Stress . 2018;32:124–146.
      Sewell G, Taskin L. Out of sight, out of mind in a new world of work? Autonomy, control, and spatiotemporal scaling in telework. Organ Stud . 2015;36:1507–1529.
      Felstead A, Jewson N, Walters S. Managerial control of employees working at home. Br J Ind Relations . 2003;41:241–264.
      Chirico F, Zaffina S, Di Prinzio RR, et al. Working from home in the context of COVID-19: a systematic review of physical and mental health effects on teleworkers. J Health Soc Sci . 2021;6:319–332.
      Fila MJ, Purl J, Griffeth RW. Job demands, control and support: meta-analyzing moderator effects of gender, nationality, and occupation. Hum Resour Manag Rev . 2017;27:39–60.
      Liebermann SC, Wegge J, Müller A. Drivers of the expectation of remaining in the same job until retirement age: a working life span demands-resources model. Eur J Work Organ Psy . 2013;22:347–361.
      Carroll GR, Harrison JR. Organizational demography and culture: Insights from a formal model and simulation. Admin Sci Qy . 1998;637–667.
      Louis MR. Surprise and sense making: what newcomers experience in entering unfamiliar organizational settings. Adm Sci Q . 1980;25:226–251.
      Weick KE. Sensemaking in Organizations . Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage; 1995.
      Filstad C. How newcomers use role models in organizational socialization. J Workplace Learn . 2004;16:396–409.
      Kammeyer-Mueller JD, Livingston BA, Liao H. Perceived similarity, proactive adjustment, and organizational socialization. J Vocational Behav . 2011;78:225–236.
      HSLF-FS 2020:12. Folkhälsomyndighetens föreskrifter och allmänna råd om allas ansvar att förhindra smitta av covid-19 m.m.: Public Health Agency of Sweden.
      HSLF-FS 2020:50. Föreskrifter om ändring i Folkhälsomyndighetens föreskrifter och allmänna råd (HSLF-FS 2020:12) om allas ansvar att förhindra smitta av covid-19 m.m.: Public Health Agency of Sweden.
      Public Health Agency of Sweden. 2022. Available at: https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/publikationer-och-material/foreskrifter-och-allmanna-rad/om-lagar-forordningar-och-foreskrifter/ . Accessed November 11, 2022.
      Försäkringskassan. 2022. Available at: https://www.forsakringskassan.se/english/parents/care-of-a-sick-child-vab . Accessed November 11, 2022.
      Virtanen M, Kivimäki M, Elovainio M, Vahtera J, Cooper CL. Contingent employment, health and sickness absence. Scand J Work Environ Health . 2001;27:365–372.
      Berthelsen H, Westerlund H, Bergström G, Burr H. Validation of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire Version III and establishment of benchmarks for psychosocial risk management in Sweden. Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2020;17:3179.
      Gadeyne N, Verbruggen M, Delanoeije J, De Cooman R. All wired, all tired? Work-related ICT-use outside work hours and work-to-home conflict: the role of integration preference, integration norms and work demands. J Vocational Behav . 2018;107:86–99.
      Echambadi R, Hess JD. Mean-centering does not alleviate collinearity problems in moderated multiple regression models. Mark Sci . 2007;26:438–445.
      de Klerk JJ, Joubert M, Mosca HF. Is working from home the new workplace panacea? Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for the future world of work. SA J Ind Psychol . 2021;47. doi:10.4102/sajip.v47i0.1883. (PMID: 10.4102/sajip.v47i0.1883)
      Chung H, van der Lippe T. Flexible working, work–life balance, and gender equality: introduction. Soc Indic Res . 2020;151:365–381.
      Zhang S, Moeckel R, Moreno AT, Shuai B, Gao J. A work-life conflict perspective on telework. Transp Res Part A Policy Pract . 2020;141:51–68.
      Çoban S. Gender and telework: work and family experiences of teleworking professional, middle-class, married women with children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. Gend Work Organ . 2021;29:241–255.
      Försäkringskassan. 2021. Så delade föräldrar på vaben under pandemin . Retrieved from https://www.forsakringskassan.se/privatpers/sa-delade-foraldrar-pa-vabben-under-pandemin . Accessed November 11, 2022.
      Delanoeije J, Verbruggen M, Germeys L. Boundary role transitions: a day-to-day approach to explain the effects of home-based telework on work-to-home conflict and home-to-work conflict. Human Relations . 2019;72:1843–1868.
      Jeffrey Hill E, Jacob JI, Shannon LL, et al. Exploring the relationship of workplace flexibility, gender, and life stage to family-to-work conflict, and stress and burnout. Community, Work & Family . 2008;11:165–181.
      Abdel Hadi S, Bakker AB, Häusser JA. The role of leisure crafting for emotional exhaustion in telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anxiety Stress Coping . 2021;34:530–544.
      Maruyama T, Tietze S. From anxiety to assurance: concerns and outcomes of telework. Personnel Rev . 2012;41:450–469.
      Venkatesh V. Determinants of perceived ease of use: integrating control, intrinsic motivation, and emotion into the technology acceptance model. Information Systems Research . 2000;11:342–365.
      Neves BB, Amaro F, Fonseca JRS. Coming of (old) age in the digital age: ICT usage and non-usage among older adults. Sociological Res Online . 2013;18:22–35.
      Scheibe S, De Bloom J, Modderman T. Resilience During crisis and the role of age: involuntary telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2022;19:1762.
      Van Steenbergen EF, van der Ven C, Peeters MCW, Taris TW. Transitioning towards new ways of working: do job demands, job resources, burnout, and engagement change? Psychol Rep . 2018;121:736–766.
      Wang B, Liu Y, Qian J, Parker SK. Achieving effective remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic: a work design perspective. Appl Psychol . 2021;70:16–59.
      Pulido-Martos M, Cortés-Denia D, Lopez-Zafra E. Teleworking in times of COVID-19: effects on the acquisition of personal resources. Front Psychol . 2021;12.
      Thulin E, Vilhelmson B, Johansson M. New telework, time pressure, and time use control in everyday life. 2019;11:3067.
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20230202 Date Completed: 20230207 Latest Revision: 20240123
    • Publication Date:
      20240124
    • Accession Number:
      PMC9897278
    • Accession Number:
      10.1097/JOM.0000000000002758
    • Accession Number:
      36729912