Homeworking Heaven or Hell During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Lessons for the Job Demands-Resources Model in the Context of Homeworking

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public servants in many countries were required to work from home. In this study, we explore Dutch public servants’ experiences of mandatory homeworking by conducting a template analysis. Based on an in-depth examination of 985 written accounts, we inductively expand an a priori template derived from the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, to understand and analyze public servants’ experiences of this new situation. We found homeworking in general had positive effects on public servants’ individual performance and health-related well-being but a predominantly negative impact on happiness well-being. Furthermore, we found that the impact of homeworking on the job demands and job resources seems to depend on the specific clusters of these job demands and resources. Our findings are translated into propositions that extend the JD-R framework.