Working from home sees more Scots suffer anxiety and isolation

THOUSANDS of Scots have suffered feelings of anxiety and isolation after a year of working from home, with many reporting fatigue, disturbed sleep and lack of focus, according to a report.

The first major survey of how Covid has affected the world of work also reveals that working from home has led to a heightened fear of job insecurity among many people and, in some cases, a breakdown of trust between employers and their staff.

Workers also reported injuries caused by spending longer at computer screens, with thousands of people forced to work at kitchen tables and on sofas.

The Working From Home Wellbeing Study, conducted by the University of Stirling and Stirlingshire-based consultancy Positive Performance, surveyed more than 500 home workers by email and follow-up interviews over a three-month period to measure mental and physical wellbeing, ergonomics and employer-employee relationships.

Around half of those questioned were also caring for children studying at home during the post-christmas school lockdown.

More than 70 per cent of those with children who responded to the survey reported working longer hours since the start of lockdown, in April last year, compared with more than 65% of those without children.

The report, the findings of which have been sent to employers’ organisations and the Scottish Government, showed home workers reporting feelings of loneliness, anxiety, stress and exhaustion, with 65% of those without children feeling more socially isolated compared with 60% of those with children.

Feelings of anxiety were also highest among those with children, with almost 60% reporting that working from home made them feel more anxious compared with fewer than half of those without children.

Almost 60% of those with children reported feeling more stressed compared with 40% without.

Wendy Chalmers Mill, chief executive of Positive Performance, said: “There are some significant changes in the pattern of people’s mental health behaviours when working from home, compared to in an office environment.

“Both groups reported experiencing increased fatigue and tiredness since working from home. It was more difficult to manage time and it was reported people were working longer hours at home compared to when in the office.”

Home has also had a negative impact on people’s perceptions of job security, according to the report. Of those with children, half said they feared for their jobs and almost half said they had not been told what was expected of them by superiors, compared with 30% and 50% of those without children who reported the same.

Researchers Amy Denvir and

Leona Clark, psychology students at the University of Stirling, said in their findings: “Primarily, workers without dependants were found to have experienced an increase in pain/physical discomfort since working from home.

“It was also reported that workers were suffering from more headaches – especially those without dependants – which could be related to the visual fatigue or the increase generally in musculoskeletal skeletal pain.

“In general, it is those without dependants who seemed to have a greater incidence of physical pain.”

It was reported people were working longer hours at home compared to when in the office