skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • How Work From Home Has Affected the Occupant's Well-Being in the Residential Built Environment: An International Survey Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic
Title: How Work From Home Has Affected the Occupant's Well-Being in the Residential Built Environment: An International Survey Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic
Abstract This paper presents the results from an international survey that investigated the impacts of the built environment on occupant well-being during the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic when most professionals were forced to work from home (WFH). The survey was comprised of 81 questions focusing on the respondent's profiles, residences, home indoor environmental quality, health, and home working experiences. A total of 1460 responses were collected from 35 countries, and 1137 of them were considered complete for the analysis. The results suggest that home spatial layout has a significant impact on occupant well-being during WFH since home-life distractions and noises due to the lack of a personal workspace are likely to prevent productive work. Lack of scenic views, inadequate daylighting, and poor acoustics were also reported to be detrimental to occupant productivity and the general WFH experience. It is also revealed from this survey that temperature, relative humidity, and indoor air quality generally have higher satisfaction ratios compared with the indoor lighting and acoustic conditions, and the home layout. Hence, home design for lighting, acoustics, and layout should also receive greater attention in the future.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1931226 2009754 1931238 1931254
PAR ID:
10355824
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ASME Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities
Volume:
2
Issue:
4
ISSN:
2642-6641
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; (, ASME Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities)
    Abstract The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 virus forced office workers to conduct their daily work activities from home over an extended period. Given this unique situation, an opportunity emerged to study the satisfaction of office workers with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors of their houses where work activities took place and associate these factors with mental and physical health. We designed and administered a questionnaire that was open for 45 days during the COVID-19 pandemic and received valid data from 988 respondents. The results show that low satisfaction with natural lighting, glare, and humidity predicted eye-related symptoms, while low satisfaction with noise was a strong predictor of fatigue or tiredness, headaches or migraines, anxiety, and depression or sadness. Nose- and throat-related symptoms and skin-related symptoms were only uniquely predicted by low satisfaction with humidity. Low satisfaction with glare uniquely predicted an increase in musculoskeletal discomfort. Symptoms related to mental stress, rumination, or worry were predicted by low satisfaction with air quality and noise. Finally, low satisfaction with noise and indoor temperature predicted the prevalence of symptoms related to trouble concentrating, maintaining attention, or focus. Workers with higher income were more satisfied with humidity, air quality, and indoor temperature and had better overall mental health. Older individuals had increased satisfaction with natural lighting, humidity, air quality, noise, and indoor temperature. Findings from this study can inform future design practices that focus on hybrid home-work environments by highlighting the impact of IEQ factors on occupant well-being. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; (, OTJR: Occupational Therapy Journal of Research)
    Stay-at-home mandates following the COVID-19 pandemic increased work from home (WFH). While WFH offers many benefits, navigating work in nontraditional contexts can be a challenge. The objective of this study was to explore the benefits and challenges of WFH during COVID-19 to identify supports and resources necessary. Comments from two free-response questions on a survey regarding experiences of WFH ( N = 648, N = 366) were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis. Four themes emerged: time use, considerations of working in the home space, intersections between work-life and home-life, and temporality of WFH as situated within a pandemic. Across all themes were concerns related to participation in both work and home roles, work performance, and well-being. Findings highlight the importance of support during times of disruption of occupational patterns, roles, and routines. Despite challenges, many individuals hoped to continue WFH. Organizations should consider the complex intersections of work-life and home-life to develop supportive policies and resources. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; (, The Healthy Buildings 2021-America Conference)
    During COVID-19 pandemic, people’s lifestyles have been changed dramatically and an increase of depression among young adults has been observed. Most universities or colleges offered online courses instead to prevent COVID transmission. Typically, home environment is not designed for work or learning. Despite that the relationships between indoor environment quality (IEQ) and people’s physical health and work performance have been investigated in regular time, very few efforts have been taken to understand the relationship between IEQ and students’ mental health and learning performance during COVID-19 when mental health and learning have become more crucial due to the face-to-face classes suspension, stay-at-home policies. The research gap exists on how IEQ at home or similar residential buildings is related to mental health and learning. This work aims to 1) understand how indoor environmental (such as thermal, air quality, lighting, acoustic) satisfaction is related to college students’ mental health and learning performance, and 2) predict depression with IEQ satisfaction. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; (, Work)
    BACKGROUND: With the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations embraced Work From Home (WFH). An important component of transitioning to WFH is the effect on workers, particularly related to their productivity and work experience. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to examine how worker-, workspace-, and work-related factors affected productivity and time spent at a workstation on a typical WFH day during the pandemic. METHODS: An online questionnaire was designed and administered to collect the necessary information. Data from 988 respondents were included in the analyses. RESULTS: Overall perception of productivity level among workers did not change relative to their in-office productivity before the pandemic. Female, older, and high-income workers were likely to report increased productivity. Productivity was positively influenced by better mental and physical health statuses, having a teenager, increased communication with coworkers and having a dedicated room for work. Number of hours spent at a workstation increased by approximately 1.5 hours during a typical WFH day. Longer hours were reported by individuals who had school age children, owned an office desk or an adjustable chair, and had adjusted their work hours. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight key factors for employers and employees to consider for improving the WFH experience. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; (, Journalism Practice)
    In response to the COVID-19 crisis, many local television (TV) newsrooms decided to have employees work from home (WFH) or from the field rather than from the newsroom, creating a kind of hybrid work characterized by a mix of work locations. From a review of research on telework and WFH, we identified possible impacts of WFH on work and on workers, with a particular focus on news work and news workers. Data on the impacts of hybrid work are drawn from interviews with local television news directors and journalists in the United States and observations of WFH. We found that through the creative application of technology, WFH news workers could successfully create a newscast, albeit with some concerns about story quality. However, WFH did not seem to satisfy workers’ needs for socialization or learning individually or as a group and created some problems coordinating work. Lifted restrictions on gatherings have mitigated some of the experienced problems, but we expect to see continued challenges to news workers’ informal learning in hybrid work settings. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email