An office that feels like home

Abstract

Homeworking can have benefits both for employees and employers, such as a productivity increase and a better work-life balance. Still, homeworking arrangements were less implemented than expected throughout the years. Now, due to Covid-19, every office worker is highly recommended to work from home as much as possible. Therefore, everybody works at home with either a suitable or an unsuitable home work environment. During this ‘mass experiment’ new insights can be gathered on the experience of homeworking and the influence the home work environment has on productivity. Employees are sometimes forced to carry out certain work activities at home that were considered unsuitable beforehand. So, prejudices about homeworking can be confirmed or invalidated and specific aspects of the home work environment that influence productivity can be determined.

For this study quantitative data of the research project, ‘We Werken Thuis’ (We Work at Home; WWH) are used. First, a literature review is conducted to have a clear overview of what already has been researched on the topic of homeworking and the work environment related to productivity. From the literature study, a theoretical model is developed. This theoretical model includes the home work environment, divided into the physical home work environment and the social environment, the satisfaction with the home work environment, and individual control variables being of influence on the perceived productivity. It was predicted that all these elements affect productivity, both directly and indirectly.

The findings from the literature review are tested by statistical analyses (N = 36,102). Bivariate and regression analyses were performed, followed by integral path analysis. These analyses showed that the physical home work environment, satisfaction with the home work environment, and individual control variables directly affect productivity. Also, the physical home work environment indirectly affects productivity via satisfaction with the home work environment. The same was found for the individual control variables. Furthermore, the individual control variables influence the physical home work environment itself as well, which indirectly affects the perceived productivity via the satisfaction with the home work environment.

The outcomes of this research can be used by practitioners to revise their current corporate real estate strategy or by real estate consultants to advise companies about their office use in the future. It fills the gap in research on the influence specific aspects of the home work environment have on productivity during homeworking.