Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and Health

Increased levels of work from home, the most significant pandemic legacy, is here to stay, necessitating its examination from different perspectives. This paper focuses on the well-being, work-life balance and health challenges this paradigm shift brings. In our survey of 241 Slovenian companies, we...

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Main Authors: Valentina Franca, Polona Domadenik Muren
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Istanbul University Press 2023-07-01
Series:Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi
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Online Access:https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/13D4783D75CF4B4589A56C1B38C55479
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author Valentina Franca
Polona Domadenik Muren
author_facet Valentina Franca
Polona Domadenik Muren
author_sort Valentina Franca
collection DOAJ
description Increased levels of work from home, the most significant pandemic legacy, is here to stay, necessitating its examination from different perspectives. This paper focuses on the well-being, work-life balance and health challenges this paradigm shift brings. In our survey of 241 Slovenian companies, we found that the experience of forced work from home was better than expected, though it still poses risk to well-being, work-life balance and health, and that consensual work from home positively influences worker satisfaction, leading to increased productivity. However, the forced work from home resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is not comparable to consensual remote work because it provides a more controlled environment; it is, therefore, critical that workers and their representatives are involved in organizing work from home with management to develop strategies to better develop motivation and optimize productivity. Further research should focus on longitudinal studies to specifically examine the impact on workers in this context, which will also provide a more robust basis for formulating recommendations and policy.
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series Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi
spelling doaj-art-c50af38bdf5b4fb4beb8cd6ec19c61c92025-08-20T02:57:55ZengIstanbul University PressSosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi1304-01032548-04052023-07-018411410.26650/jspc.2023.84.1207474123456Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and HealthValentina Franca0Polona Domadenik Muren1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1672-7955University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SloveniaUniversity of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SloveniaIncreased levels of work from home, the most significant pandemic legacy, is here to stay, necessitating its examination from different perspectives. This paper focuses on the well-being, work-life balance and health challenges this paradigm shift brings. In our survey of 241 Slovenian companies, we found that the experience of forced work from home was better than expected, though it still poses risk to well-being, work-life balance and health, and that consensual work from home positively influences worker satisfaction, leading to increased productivity. However, the forced work from home resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is not comparable to consensual remote work because it provides a more controlled environment; it is, therefore, critical that workers and their representatives are involved in organizing work from home with management to develop strategies to better develop motivation and optimize productivity. Further research should focus on longitudinal studies to specifically examine the impact on workers in this context, which will also provide a more robust basis for formulating recommendations and policy.https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/13D4783D75CF4B4589A56C1B38C55479covid-19work from homework-life-balancehealth and safety at work
spellingShingle Valentina Franca
Polona Domadenik Muren
Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and Health
Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları Dergisi
covid-19
work from home
work-life-balance
health and safety at work
title Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and Health
title_full Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and Health
title_fullStr Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and Health
title_full_unstemmed Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and Health
title_short Working from Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons on Well-Being, Work-Life Balance, and Health
title_sort working from home during the covid 19 pandemic lessons on well being work life balance and health
topic covid-19
work from home
work-life-balance
health and safety at work
url https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/13D4783D75CF4B4589A56C1B38C55479
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