Working from home during COVID-19 in a Danish hospital research setting: experiences of researchers and healthcare providers, explored by Group Concept Mapping

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the working environment, how we think of it and how it stands to develop into the future. Knowledge about how people have continued to work on-site and adjusted to working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown will be vital for planning work arrangements in the post-pandemic period. Our primary objective was to investigate experiences of working from home or having colleagues working from home during a late stage of the COVID-19 lockdown among researchers and healthcare providers in a hospital research setting. Second, we aimed to investigate researchers’ productivity through changes in various proxy measures during lockdown as compared with pre-lockdown. DESIGN: Mixed-method participatory Group Concept Mapping (GCM). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: GCM, based on a mixed-method participatory approach, was applied involving researchers’ and healthcare providers’ online sorting and rating experiences working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. At a face-to-face meeting, participants achieved consensus on the number and labelling of domains—the basis for developing a conceptual model. RESULTS: Through the GCM approach, 47 participants generated 125 unique statements of experiences related to working from home, which were organised into seven clusters. Using these clusters, we developed a conceptual model that illustrated the pros and cons of working from home. CONCLUSION: The future work setting, the role of the office and the overall work environment need to respond to workers’ increased wish for flexible work arrangements and co-decision.