To work at home or in the office? Well-being, information flow and relationships between office workers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to compare employee well-being, information flow and relationships with co-workers and supervisors for people working at home and working in different office types before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach A nationwide study of 2,845 Estonian office workers in autumn 2019 and 2,972 in spring 2020 was carried out. Findings It was discovered that in normal circumstances, people at home had similar results to those in a cell office or activity-based office. Open-plan offices were found to be the worst in respect to the facets of work studied. However, in the context of the pandemic, the playing field became more level in some respects and worse in the case of activity-based offices. Practical implications When telework is well arranged both in terms of facilities and organising the necessary communication and information flow, then it is a viable alternative to working in an office. What is more, employers need to pay more attention to the physical and social work conditions in open-plan offices and also activity-based offices in the context of a pandemic. Originality/value Previous studies have only compared telework with working in an office in general. Comparing working at home with different kinds of offices gives valuable insights.