Print Email Facebook Twitter How are people coping with working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic? Title How are people coping with working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic?: Experiences from the Netherlands and South Korea Author Park, S.Y. (TU Delft Urban Design; Seoul National University of Science and Technology) Lee, Rachel (TU Delft History, Form & Aesthetics) Newton, C.E.L. (TU Delft Spatial Planning and Strategy) Han, Gisung (Korea University) Date 2024 Abstract COVID-19 has made working from home routine for many. People who have had to maintain their productivity, particularly in physically and/or socially unacceptable home-working situations, experienced one of the pandemic’s disadvantages. The experience can vary substantially among individuals as well as by country. This study presents the results of a comparative study of the Netherlands and Korea. Working from home was not uncommon in the Netherlands before the pandemic; however, in Korea, employers adopted working from home from its start, and that increased rapidly. An online survey enabled us to compare the physical and social conditions of current home workspaces in both countries, to understand how well-equipped they were to support people who had to work from home. We studied the changes in productivity and physical/mental health before and during COVID-19, to learn how people coped with working from home in both countries. Contrary to expectations, Koreans showed better scores than people in the Netherlands, in terms of changes in health and productivity. This article discusses various aspects of that result, such as satisfaction with home workspace, housing type, job position and prior experience, compulsoriness, and frequency of working from home. Relieving stress and concentration appeared to be the most important dimensions of telecommuters’ satisfaction with working from home environments in both countries. The results are the basis for suggesting the development of strategies for a desirable WFH environment, considering different background contexts, experiences and cultures. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:605de603-e8fa-46bd-92cc-ca6b2f614387 DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0301351 ISSN 1932-6203 Source PLoS ONE, 19 (4) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2024 S.Y. Park, Rachel Lee, C.E.L. Newton, Gisung Han Files PDF journal.pone.0301351.pdf 2.38 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:605de603-e8fa-46bd-92cc-ca6b2f614387/datastream/OBJ/view