Well-ventilated home office ‘makes remote employees feel more productive’

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People who work remotely feel more productive and are less likely to experience professional burnout if their home office is well ventilated, research suggests.

Employees who also reported being happy or satisfied with their home workstation set-up were more likely to feel they are doing well in their job, according to a study in the Plos One journal.

Researchers said investing in good quality workspaces and creating a healthy environment would allow workers to have a “bright future of working from home”.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics suggest around 44% of UK employees were working in some form of remote capacity in 2023.

And as of April this year, employees in the UK have a legal right to ask for flexible working from their first day in a job, suggesting home working will continue to be the “new normal”.

Many companies have a hybrid working policy, allowing employees to split their working hours between home and the workplace, but some have insisted people return to the office full-time, based on the view that employees are less productive at home.

To find out if this was the case, researchers from the Maastricht University in the Netherlands surveyed more than 1,000 remote workers.

Questionnaires were used to assess whether people felt they were productive at home, were happy with their home office equipment including screens, desks and chairs, and were satisfied with their working environment, such as levels of temperature and noise they were experiencing at home.

The team found higher levels of satisfaction with home office set-up – including working in a well-ventilated room – was associated with higher self-reported productivity and a lower likelihood of professional burnout.

The authors wrote: “We find that ventilating the home office is a crucial underlying factor predicting overall satisfaction and is indirectly associated with increased productivity, increased willingness to WFH (working from home), and decreased burnout tendency.”

They added: “Our results underline a holistic perspective such that investing in a healthy and objectively measured physical climate is a key aspect of the bright future of working from home.

“The move from the work office to the home office needs to be accompanied by careful design and investment in the quality of the office and its climate.”

Commenting on the study, Dr Colin Rigby, reader in enterprise at Keele University Business School, who was not involved, said: “Like it or not WFH is here to stay and with it, an ongoing debate about its productivity implications.

“The importance of the physical climate of the home office has received limited attention.

“Now that we are WFH as a choice, or routinely rather than as a response to a crisis, ‘making do’ will no longer be sufficient to maintain quality work outputs.

“This study delves into the problem of physical home office environment in enhancing productivity and reducing burnout among remote workers.

“By promoting air-quality-improving behaviours and ensuring higher satisfaction with home office set-ups, employers and employees can significantly enhance WFH outcomes.”