Work productivity in the office and at home during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional analysis of office workers in Japan.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Umishio, Wataru Kagi, Naoki Asaoka, Ryo Hayashi, Motoya Sawachi, Takao Ueno, Takahiro
Abstract	AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has drastically changed work styles and environments. Given the coexistence of work in the office and work from home (WFH) in the future, studies are needed to identify ways to increase productivity when working in both places. We conducted a questionnaire survey and environment measurements of 916 workers in 22 offices across 2 weeks in November–December 2020 in Japan. While average workdays at the offices decreased from 4.9 to 3.9 days/week, those at homes increased from 0.1 to 1.1 days/week due to COVID‐19, indicating an increase in the relative importance of WFH. Compared to the office, the satisfaction rate was lower for lighting, spatial, and information technology (IT) environments, but higher for thermal, air, and sound environments at home. Although it was easier to concentrate on work and to refresh at home, workers experienced challenges associated with business communication from home. Meanwhile, in the office, satisfaction with COVID‐19 countermeasures was significantly associated with work productivity. Furthermore, lower PM2.5 concentration was associated with greater satisfaction with COVID‐19 countermeasures, indicating that reducing PM2.5 may increase satisfaction with COVID‐19 countermeasures and work productivity. We expect these findings will help improve work productivity in the New Normal era.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC8446952&blobtype=pdf
Page Count	12
ISSN	09056947
Journal	Indoor Air
Volume Number	32
DOI	10.1111/ina.12913
PubMed Central reference number	PMC8446952
Issue Number	1
PubMed reference number	34297869
e-ISSN	16000668
Language	English
Publisher	John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Publisher Date	2021-07-23
Publisher Place	Hoboken
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2021 The Authors. Indoor Air published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Subject Keyword	COVID‐19 PM2.5 productivity work environment work from home work in the office
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Building and Construction Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health Environmental Engineering