What we can do with the results of this survey is to compare with how people in Sweden responded before Covid-19. What we see that is better than people who answered similar questions before the pandemic and the large increase in work from home is, for example, that participants experience a better work pace, better social support from the immediate manager and leadership quality. Participants also experience a better work-life balance. The impact of personal life on work is perceived to be very small.

Other interesting findings are that the level of fatigue is reported to be lower in this group compared to pre-pandemic reference values. However, there are still people who feel isolated and report various physical complaints such as back, shoulder, neck and headaches. Being sedentary also seems to be problematic when working from home when natural breaks are no longer available. The Swedish Public Health Agency recommends moving for a few minutes every half hour. Of those surveyed, 6% sit for less than 1 hour at a time during a normal working day. The rest of the respondents sit longer. 22% sit for 4 hours or more.

The interviews showed that although employees felt less stressed and had more physical energy when working from home, they also felt that their motivation levels fluctuated during the pandemic. Some had to consciously put in a significant amount of effort and energy to stay motivated and maintain their work efforts.

Further findings from the interview suggest that employees felt that their managers used a better way of engaging them to ensure that stress and burnout were mitigated. For example, managers encouraged more communication and interaction between employees through morning meetings or digital fika. They also expressed that they felt their managers gave them more autonomy and flexibility to do their job; they felt the freedom to express how they feel (mentally and otherwise); and were encouraged by their managers to express the best ways things worked for them. This led them to become more flexible and open with their managers. The new dynamic with their managers when working from home increased their level of trust, commitment and satisfaction while trying to solve problems in different contexts.

On the whole, the experience of working from home is positive, but there is a small group who have various types of physical and psychological problems.

The research is funded by AFA Försäkring. The full report is available free of charge at this link:

Many thanks for all contributions to the study!

With kind regards,

Adesuwa, Tomas and Rachael

The researchers:  

Adesuwa Omorede, Project Manager, Assistant Professor
Innovation, Design and Technology, Mälardalen University.
Interests: The role of passion, emotion and motivation within individuals; their relationships; decision-making processes; and performance.
adesuwa.omorede@mdh.se

Tomas Backström, Professor
Innovation, Design and Technology, Mälardalen University.
Interests: Groups of people working together - we are each other's work environment.
Leadership, creativity, climate and social structures.
Work experience: Researched and educated in working life since 1980.
tomas.backstrom@mdh.se

Rachael Berglund, PhD Student
Innovation, design and technology, Mälardalen University.
Interests: Working life, health, stress, organizational and social work environment.
Work experience: 15 years as a work environment engineer in industry and construction.
rachael.tripney.berglund@mdh.se