COVID-19-related changes at work and psychosocial work environment: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Stressful events and uncertain times are known to pose occupational risks. COVID-19 pandemic brought many changes to work, work arrangements, and work environment. Prospective studies are needed to assess the potential effects of these changes on psychosocial work environment. METHODS: We followed a large cohort of Finnish public sector employees using biennial survey data from 2016 to 2022 (n = 22,688). Those who reported a change (over to remote work, other tasks, or team reorganization) in work due to the pandemic in 2020 were compared to those who did not report such a change. Sex-, age, and socioeconomic status -adjusted means for psychosocial factors were calculated in four timepoints separately for the groups of employees with and without changes. Multilevel modelling was applied to examine the change in psychosocial factors accounting for autocorrelation between observations. To examine the potential difference in trends between the groups, time x group interaction was tested. RESULTS: Transfer to working from home in 2020 (n = 10,587, 47%) was associated with increased work time control (b = 0.07; 95% CI 0.05, 0.08) and social capital (b = 0.03, 95% CI 0.01, 0.05) over time. A transfer to other work tasks in 2020 (n = 1660, 7%) was associated with suboptimal trend in work time control (b= -0.06; 95% CI -0.09, -0.03), and procedural justice (b= -0.05; 95% CI -0.10, 0.00), particularly in 2020 compared to those not exposed to such transfer. Team reorganization in 2020 ((n = 1067, 5%) was associated with suboptimal trend in work time control compared to those not exposed to team reorganization (b= -0.06; 95% CI -0.10, -0.02). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 pandemic induced changes at work were associated with mixed changes in the perceived psychosocial work environment. KEY MESSAGES: • COVID-19 -induced changes at work may have had unequal impacts on different groups of employees in the public sector. • Promoting the resilience of the most vulnerable employee groups needs attention in the future.