Do you work exclusively from your home office?
Then you should go back to the office more often.
A psychologist explains what number of office days is considered optimal.
The corona pandemic has banished many of us to the home office. The infection control rules, which in many industries also include working from home, have already been relaxed again in many companies - thanks to high vaccination rates and hygiene measures on site.
Are you one of the lucky ones who combine home work with on-site presence?
Many people appreciate the mixture of home office and office work. With the first option, you save the commute and are usually less quickly distracted from an activity than in the office. The work on site, on the other hand, allows personal exchange with colleagues and bosses, which prevents misunderstandings.
Hannes Zacher, a work and organizational psychologist at the University of Leipzig, has researched how (pandemic-related) work in the home office affects the human psyche.
He wants to have found the optimal home office formula.
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Many appreciate the advantages of working from home.
But going to the office is worthwhile, according to occupational psychologist Hannes Zacher.
© Uwe Anspach / dpa
How often do you work from home?
"We recommend a maximum of one or two days a week"
At the end of 2019, the university professor began to question almost 1,000 employees about their physical and mental health, as reported by the
Wirtschaftswoche
portal
. The analysis developed into a long-term study, in which the participants have been surveyed monthly since March 2021.
One of the most interesting discoveries so far: too often, employees shouldn't work from home for the sake of their mental health.
When asked how often people should work from home,
industrial
psychologist Zacher answers in
Wirtschaftswoche
: “We recommend a maximum of one or two days a week.
In general, one can say that after one or two days the satisfaction of employees working from home decreases.
This has to do with the fact that they also become less productive because they are more easily distracted and it becomes more difficult to communicate and coordinate with colleagues. "
According to Zacher, the corona pandemic made people “more neurotic, insecure and fearful”.
The restrictions - including the obligation to work from home - would have affected people's personality and changed their behavior.
The causes of neuroses such as fears, phobias and depressive moods are diverse.
The study participants in Zacher's home office study mainly complain about the lack of structure and control when working from home.
(jg)
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List of rubric lists: © Uwe Anspach