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Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff

Background: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were forced to suddenly shift to working from home (WFH). How this disruption of work affected employees’ work ability is not known. In this study, we investigated the developmental profiles of work ability among Finnish higher education employees...

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Autores principales: Kyrönlahti, Saila, Neupane, Subas, Nygård, Clas-Håkan, Oakman, Jodi, Juutinen, Soile, Mäkikangas, Anne
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9140956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35627772
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106230
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author Kyrönlahti, Saila
Neupane, Subas
Nygård, Clas-Håkan
Oakman, Jodi
Juutinen, Soile
Mäkikangas, Anne
author_facet Kyrönlahti, Saila
Neupane, Subas
Nygård, Clas-Håkan
Oakman, Jodi
Juutinen, Soile
Mäkikangas, Anne
author_sort Kyrönlahti, Saila
collection PubMed
description Background: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were forced to suddenly shift to working from home (WFH). How this disruption of work affected employees’ work ability is not known. In this study, we investigated the developmental profiles of work ability among Finnish higher education employees in a one-year follow-up during the enforced WFH. Secondly, we investigated demographic, organizational, and ergonomic factors associated with the developmental profiles. Methods: A longitudinal web-survey was conducted with four measurement points (April 2020–February 2021). Employees of a Finnish university who answered the questionnaire at baseline and at least at two follow-up surveys (n = 678) were included (71% women, 45% teachers/research staff, 44% supporting staff, 11% hired students). Perceived work ability was measured on a scale of 1–5 in all timepoints. Latent class growth curve analysis was used to identify profiles of work ability. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the associations of demographic factors, perceived stress, musculoskeletal pain, functionality of home for work, and organizational support with the work ability profiles. Results: Six distinct work ability profiles were identified. For most (75%), work ability remained stable during the follow-up. A total of 17% had a favourable trend (very good-stable or increasing) of work ability, and 8% had non-favourable (poor-stable or decreasing). Poor ergonomics at home, low organizational support, high stress, and musculoskeletal pain were associated with non-favourable development of work ability. Conclusions: Heterogeneity in development of work ability during forced WFH was found. Several factors were identified through which work ability can be supported.
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spelling pubmed-91409562022-05-28 Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff Kyrönlahti, Saila Neupane, Subas Nygård, Clas-Håkan Oakman, Jodi Juutinen, Soile Mäkikangas, Anne Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were forced to suddenly shift to working from home (WFH). How this disruption of work affected employees’ work ability is not known. In this study, we investigated the developmental profiles of work ability among Finnish higher education employees in a one-year follow-up during the enforced WFH. Secondly, we investigated demographic, organizational, and ergonomic factors associated with the developmental profiles. Methods: A longitudinal web-survey was conducted with four measurement points (April 2020–February 2021). Employees of a Finnish university who answered the questionnaire at baseline and at least at two follow-up surveys (n = 678) were included (71% women, 45% teachers/research staff, 44% supporting staff, 11% hired students). Perceived work ability was measured on a scale of 1–5 in all timepoints. Latent class growth curve analysis was used to identify profiles of work ability. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the associations of demographic factors, perceived stress, musculoskeletal pain, functionality of home for work, and organizational support with the work ability profiles. Results: Six distinct work ability profiles were identified. For most (75%), work ability remained stable during the follow-up. A total of 17% had a favourable trend (very good-stable or increasing) of work ability, and 8% had non-favourable (poor-stable or decreasing). Poor ergonomics at home, low organizational support, high stress, and musculoskeletal pain were associated with non-favourable development of work ability. Conclusions: Heterogeneity in development of work ability during forced WFH was found. Several factors were identified through which work ability can be supported. MDPI 2022-05-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9140956/ /pubmed/35627772 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106230 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kyrönlahti, Saila
Neupane, Subas
Nygård, Clas-Håkan
Oakman, Jodi
Juutinen, Soile
Mäkikangas, Anne
Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff
title Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff
title_full Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff
title_fullStr Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff
title_full_unstemmed Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff
title_short Perceived Work Ability during Enforced Working from Home Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Finnish Higher Educational Staff
title_sort perceived work ability during enforced working from home due to the covid-19 pandemic among finnish higher educational staff
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9140956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35627772
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106230
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