The changing condition of working in a hybrid model

: remote & office : examining its relation to perceived stress-level of employees and predicting variables thereto

Abstract

A wide variety of companies from a broad range of industries want to continue to support hybrid forms of working in the future (Boland et al 2020). Most of the German population (around 74%) is thoroughly satisfied with this development and the renewed form of flexible working. Hence, even after almost 2 years of the pandemic, a way must now be found to offer and implement this new way of working in a contemporary and health-promoting manner. In general, the evidence from past studies suggests that digital stress levels increased immensely while working in the home office during the pandemic (Gimpel et al 2020). Looking at the evolution towards continuous hybrid working, it is essential for employers and employees to investigate and understand what factors are driving this increased stress level to consequently being able to take preventive and reactive coping measures (Waizenegger et al., 2020). Based on this objective, this study aims to evaluate to what extent the changing situation of working from the home office affects the stress level of employees and thereby considers possible moderator variables. The sample consist of 91 participants (n = 91) which was divided into 46 male subjects and 45 female subjects, while the age of the participants ranged from 25 - > 65. Results revealed that gender was the only variable used within the study that had a significant influence on stress level. Overall, the study thereby demonstrated, that women have a significantly higher stress level than their male counterparts. In turn, no meaningful relationship between age, living situation and (average) days worked from home was detected.

Date of Award	6 Feb 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Francisco Esteves (Supervisor)