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Abstract
Objectives To examine the associations of COVID-19-related changes in work with perceptions of psychosocial work environment and employee health.
Methods In a cohort of 24 299 Finnish public sector employees, psychosocial work environment and employee well-being were assessed twice before (2016 and 2018=reference period) and once during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who reported a change (=‘Exposed’) in work due to the pandemic (working from home, new tasks or team reorganisation) were compared with those who did not report such change (=‘Non-exposed’).
Results After adjusting for sex, age, socioeconomic status and lifestyle risk score, working from home (44%) was associated with greater increase in worktime control (standardised mean difference (SMD)Exposed=0.078, 95% CI 0.066 to 0.090; SMDNon-exposed=0.025, 95% CI 0.014 to 0.036), procedural justice (SMDExposed=0.101, 95% CI 0.084 to 0.118; SMDNon-exposed=0.053, 95% CI 0.038 to 0.068), workplace social capital (SMDExposed=0.094, 95% CI 0.077 to 0.110; SMDNon-exposed=0.034, 95% CI 0.019 to 0.048), less decline in self-rated health (SMDExposed=−0.038, 95% CI −0.054 to –0.022; SMDNon-exposed=−0.081, 95% CI −0.095 to –0.067), perceived work ability (SMDExposed=−0.091, 95% CI −0.108 to –0.074; SMDNon-exposed=−0.151, 95% CI −0.167 to –0.136) and less increase in psychological distress (risk ratio (RR)Exposed=1.06, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.09; RRNon-exposed=1.16, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.20). New tasks (6%) were associated with greater increase in psychological distress (RRExposed=1.28, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.39; RRNon-exposed=1.10, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.12) and team reorganisation (5%) with slightly steeper decline in perceived work ability (SMDExposed=−0.151 95% CI −0.203 to –0.098; SMDNon-exposed=−0.124, 95% CI −0.136 to –0.112).
Conclusion Employees who worked from home during the pandemic had more favourable psychosocial work environment and health, whereas those who were exposed to work task changes and team reorganisations experienced more adverse changes.
- environment
- COVID-19
- occupational health
- workload
- occupational stress
Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. The deidentified data and statistical analysis code that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author, JE. The data are not publicly available due to legislative restrictions, as the data contains information that could compromise the privacy of the research participants.
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Data availability statement
Data are available upon reasonable request. The deidentified data and statistical analysis code that support the findings of this study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author, JE. The data are not publicly available due to legislative restrictions, as the data contains information that could compromise the privacy of the research participants.
Footnotes
Twitter @JenniErvasti1
Contributors JE is the principal investigator, drafted the manuscript and analysed the data. JE, MK, TO and JV planned the study design. VA and JP contributed to data management and statistical analysis. JE, VA, JP, TO, MK, JV provided critical interpretation of the data and revised the manuscript.
Funding The Finnish Public Sector study is funded by the participating organizations and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. JE and VA report no other funding relevant to this study. TO is funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund (200335). MK was supported by the Academy of Finland (329202), the Finnish Work Environment Fund (190424) and the NordForsk Nordic Programme on Health and Welfare (75021); JP by the Academy of Finland (329202) and the Finnish Work Environment Fund, Finland (190424) and JV by the Academy of Finland (grants 321409 and 329240).
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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