SynthesisBMC psychology2023
The relationship between homeworking during COVID-19 and both, mental health, and productivity: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Experiences of working from home: umbrella review.Journal of occupational health · 2024Pooled it
- The association between commute time and both presenteeism and absenteeism: a cross-sectional analysis of the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey.Annals of occupational and environmental medicine · 2026Article
- Mental health status of workers in the semiconductor industry during the COVID-19 pandemic: comparisons between regions on three continents.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Recommendations to support the mental health and wellbeing of response-focused civil servants asked to work from home during public health emergencies in the United Kingdom: a Delphi study.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Home working during the COVID-19 pandemic: The experience of drug and alcohol support workers.Journal of public health research · 2025Article
- Productivity changes during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated risk factors.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2025Article
- Working from home and well-being during the pandemic and beyond: a longitudinal analysis in five countries.BMC public health · 2025Article
- "We're all in the same storm, but not all of us are in the same boat": qualitative exploration of UK response-focused civil servants experiences of working from home during COVID-19.BMC public health · 2025Article
- When home becomes the office: navigating challenges and embracing possibilities in telework in Sweden during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Psychosocial work aspects, work ability, mental health and SARS-CoV-2 infection rates of on-site and remote Brazilian workers during the COVID-19 pandemic - a longitudinal study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Rates of, and factors associated with, common mental disorders in homeworking UK Government response employees' during COVID-19: a cross-sectional survey and secondary data analysis.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Predicting Workers' Stress: Application of a High-Performance Algorithm Using Working-Style Characteristics.JMIR AI · 2024Article
- Effect of Government Guidelines and Corporate Governance on Telework Adoption and Occupational Health Measures in Taiwanese-Listed Companies.Safety and health at work · 2024Article
- "That was one of my most difficult and biggest challenges": experiences, preconditions and preventive measures of health-oriented leadership in virtual teams - A qualitative study with virtual leaders.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Education and pandemic SARS-CoV-2 infections in the German working population - the mediating role of working from home.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2024Observational
- Working from home and mental well-being at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.PloS one · 2024Article
- Identifying key mental health and improvement factors in hospital administrators working from home using a DEMATEL-based network analysis model.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 in Workplace Settings: Lessons Learned for Occupational Medicine in the UK.La Medicina del lavoro · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAs of March 2020, the UK public were instructed to work from home where possible and as a result, nearly half of those in employment did so during the following month. Pre-pandemic, around 5% of workers chose to work from home; it was often seen as advantageous, for example due to eliminating commuting time and increasing flexibility. However, homeworking also had negative connotations, for example, blurred boundaries between work and home life due to a sense of constant connectivity to the workplace. Understanding the psychological impact of working from home in an enforced and prolonged manner due to the COVID-19 pandemic is important. Therefore, this review sought to establish the relationship between working from home, mental health, and productivity.
methodsIn January 2022, literature searches were conducted across four electronic databases: Medline, Embase, PsycInfo and Web of Science. In February 2022 grey literature searches were conducted using Google Advanced Search, NHS Evidence; Gov.uk Publications and the British Library directory of online doctoral theses. Published and unpublished literature which collected data after March 2020, included participants who experienced working from home for at least some of their working hours, and detailed the association in terms of mental health or productivity were included.
resultsIn total 6,906 citations were screened and 25 papers from electronic databases were included. Grey literature searching resulted in two additional papers. Therefore, 27 studies were included in this review. Findings suggest the association between homeworking and both, mental health and productivity varies considerably, suggesting a complex relationship, with many factors (e.g., demographics, occupation) having an influence on the relationship.
conclusionWe found that there was no clear consensus as to the association between working from home and mental health or productivity. However, there are indications that those who start homeworking for the first time during a pandemic are at risk of poor productivity, as are those who experience poor mental health. Suggestions for future research are suggested.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.