{"id":29787,"date":"2021-01-12T15:55:32","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T12:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/?p=29787"},"modified":"2025-03-25T14:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T11:14:33","slug":"expert-roundup-psychological-effects-wfh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialcafe.com\/blog\/expert-roundup-psychological-effects-wfh\/","title":{"rendered":"Expert Roundup: The Psychological Effects of Working from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

When 2020 began, no one could have imagined how it would turn out. Specifically, the pandemic forced many of us to face situations that we would normally not even think about, such as working from home<\/a> and social distancing \u2014 not only among colleagues, but also in daily activities.<\/p>\n

So, to learn more about the consequences of these actions, we spoke with several industry experts about the psychological and sociological effects that working from home has had on employees. Read on to find out more.<\/p>\n

Meet our Experts<\/h2>\n
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Karen Condor<\/h3>\n

Human Resources and Insurance Expert with US Insurance Agents <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Madina Estephan<\/h3>\n

Medical Doctor & Expert in Public Health. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Daniel Foley<\/h3>\n

SEO Specialist at Daniel Foley<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alexis Haselberger<\/h3>\n

Productivity, Time Management and Leadership Coach Alexis Haselberger Coaching and Consulting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrei Kurtuy<\/h3>\n

Co-Founder and CCO at Novo Resume<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kelly Harris Perin<\/h3>\n

Founder of Little Bites Coaching<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ryan Scribner<\/h3>\n

Co-Owner of the Personal Finance Blog Investing Simple<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Joe Wilson<\/h3>\n

Senior Career Advisor at Mint Resume<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dr. Brian Wind<\/h3>\n

Chief Clinical Officer at JourneyPure<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In your opinion, what is the sociological effect of this working-from-home period? What do people miss about office life?<\/h2>\n
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Karen Condor<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>On the plus side, workers have found they can be more productive by not having the stress of a commute, by not dealing with the disruptions of a typical office environment, and by customizing both their home office environment, as well as their work schedule.<\/p>\n

On the minus side, the lack of in-person, human connection can lead to isolation and stress caused by the decrease in communication and engagement. Also, a blurring between work and home can increase stress for workers who have trouble disconnecting and feel they are on-call around the clock.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Madina Estephan<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>Working from home became a recognized \u2018gold standard\u2019 of the new organizational reality. However, the question of how to find a balanced hybrid model fitting to each organization remains open. Several studies evaluated the impact of working from home on people.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Tech and Millennial generations were not so happy with working from home; they were missing after-work interactions and community sense. While managers were satisfied by teamwork, in general, members of teams were expecting more direct one-to-one management, missing clear processes and framed rules. Another common trend is increased working hours, [as well as] difficulties to maintain borders between private and working space; general feeling of anxiety; and stress while working from home during lockdown.<\/p>\n

Another research conducted from September 2019 to October 2020 questioned 87,547 employees on the topic of working from home. The happiness index was rather high in 68% of people. The motivation was at its peak at the beginning.<\/p>\n

Another interesting fact was a strong correlation between quality of work-from-home experiences and motivation. Those employees who had positive work-from-home experiences in the past were more effective and open to continue working from home.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Daniel Foley<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>People are going to have difficulty adjusting to not having everything at a moment\u2019s reach. Whether that be asking a colleague a question or [an] information file kept in the back office. Working from home takes some adjustment, and especially for companies who weren\u2019t already taking advantage of online and clouds for filing, this could prove to be a difficult transition that takes some getting used to.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alexis Haselberger<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>The thing that comes up over and over is that people miss the spontaneous nature of office life. People miss running into someone in the hallway or the kitchen and having a conversation. People miss overhearing conversations. People miss being able to stop by someone\u2019s desk for a quick chat. Every conversation is now scheduled and not only does that feel stifling, [but] people are working longer hours because of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrei Kurtuy<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>Our workers have expressed a lot of loneliness and feelings of isolation from other adults and regular life, whatever that might mean. There\u2019s been a collective grieving process going on as employees were accustomed to being physically close and emotionally tight knit, but now everything is disjointed and feels overly formal. People only interact when there\u2019s a meeting. There\u2019s no chatting over lunch like there used to be. People are finding ways to feel more connected, but it can\u2019t replace what was lost.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kelly Harris Perin<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>Some trends I\u2019ve noticed as a result of the pandemic:<\/p>\n

My clients who have a \u2018best friend at work\u2019 (that phrase is taken from Gallup\u2019s Q12 employee engagement survey) have been leaning on their closest work friends, in many cases texting or Zooming several times per day as they navigate the reality of working from home during a pandemic. Unfortunately, what researchers call \u2018weak ties\u2019 have suffered. Those are the collegial relationships with people you may see in meetings or chat with over lunch at the office, but don\u2019t work with closely. In other words, if you didn\u2019t have someone\u2019s number in your phone in March, you\u2019re not likely to have added it over the last few months. Fewer \u2018weak tie\u2019 connections can mean that individuals are less engaged overall AND that the fabric of the organization is less strong. Leaders need to focus on new ways to make and strengthen connections throughout their teams.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ryan Scribner<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>The impact of the work-from-home movement is just an acceleration of a trend that we have been seeing for years. This is, of course, the trend of humans becoming far less social and more independent. One thing that Zoom and other work-from-home solutions cannot provide is the collaborative work environment of the office. People are not as amped about sitting on a laptop at home versus being in a meeting sharing ideas.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Joe Wilson<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>Sociologically, there have been some impacts in terms of people being isolated. Sure, there are Zoom calls, etc., but it does not have the effect of face-to-face meetings. We are largely in isolation and desperate for some social interaction. Little things, like meeting a colleague in the hallway, making a cuppa together, etc. The lack of these things can be felt.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dr. Brian Wind<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>One impact of working from home is the reduction in social interaction and collaboration. It\u2019s not as easy to engage in casual conversation while working from home, and it\u2019s harder to get quick updates on what everyone else is working on. Face-to-face social interactions are more formalized, and people may only be having them during formal video conferences.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the future, when we will be working both in the office and at home, how many days should we work at the office in order to keep a healthy balance between the two? What are the advantages\/disadvantages of one or the other?<\/h2>\n
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Karen Condor<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>That depends on the type of work, as more days would be needed if the work demands a high amount of collaboration. It also depends on the worker\u2019s needs, as less days would be needed the less a worker craves in-person interaction in order to reduce stress.<\/p>\n

If working in the office is too emphasized, employees may become resentful having to commute and transfer work from home if they think it\u2019s unnecessary. If working from home is too emphasized, employees may suffer from missing teamwork which creates a sense of inclusiveness, gives everyone a chance to speak up, and keeps everyone on the same page.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Madina Estephan<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/span>There is no one recipe for everyone. Rather, each organization has to create their own unique, bold and flexible solutions. First of all, the wise approach would be to have the right understanding\/diagnosis of the particular organizational needs \u2014 those of teams and individual employees, [plus] step-by-step implementation process and transparent communication. I would rather make employees proactive participants in designing new work-from-home environments. Like for effective communication, each organization has to find the optimal risk\/benefit balance, keeping in mind three effectiveness growth opportunities.<\/p>\n