Working from home during the pandemic is having a negative impact on employees’ mental health, according to The Martec Group’s Work from Home Study. Before COVID-19, 62% of employees reported positive mental health, 57% had job satisfaction and 56% felt good job motivation. Those numbers fell to 28% for mental health, 32% for job satisfaction and 36% for job motivation, while 42% reported increased stress and reduced focus. Some employees saw improvements in work-life balance (38%) and schedules (33%), though 32% and 40%, respectively, reported no change and others were negatively affected. Productivity took a major hit, with 40% reporting a negative impact and just 19% reporting improvement.
To help, employers should tailor treatment and response to four specific worker profiles. “Thriving employees” (16%) like working from home and think their company is doing fine. “Hopeful employees” (25%) do not think working from home is for them, but have faith in their company’s management. “Discouraged employees” (27%) really do not like working from home but think the company is doing its best. The largest segment—“trapped employees” (32%)—strongly dislike working from home and do not think their company is handling the situation well.