Job stress and work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic among Japanese workers: a prospective cohort study

ABSTRACT

Objectives

The work style reforms and the coronavirus disease pandemic in Japan have prompted efforts toward teleworking, mainly work from home (WFH). This study aimed to prospectively evaluate the impact of WFH on job stress among Japanese workers.

Methods

This online survey-based prospective cohort study was conducted from December 2020 (baseline) to December 2021 (1-year follow-up) using self-administered questionnaires. At baseline, 27,036 participants completed the questionnaires, whereas 18,560 (68.7%) participated in the 1-year follow-up. After excluding the 11,604 participants who left or changed workplaces within 1 year or who were physical laborers and hospitality workers, data from 6,956 participants were analyzed. We asked participants about WFH frequency at baseline and conducted a follow-up using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ). Participants were divided into four groups according to WFH frequency. The odds ratios of poor states of the association of the four subscales (job demand, job control, supervisor support, and coworker support) determined by the BJSQ with WFH frequency were estimated using a multilevel logistic model.

Results

In both the gender–age adjusted and multivariate models, compared to the non-WFH group, the medium and low WFH groups were less likely to have poor job control, whereas the high WFH group were likely to have similar levels as the non-WFH group. In both models, compared to non-WFH participants, the high WFH group were more likely to have poor supervisor and coworker support.

Conclusions

High-frequency WFH requires further attention, because it may increase job stress by exacerbating deficits of social support in the workplace. Medium- and low-frequency WFH workers were more likely to have satisfactory job control; therefore, limiting WFH to three or fewer days per week may lead to better job stress management.

KEYWORDS:

• Work from home
• office worker
• job stress
• Brief Job Stress Questionnaire
• COVID-19

Acknowledgments

The current members of the CORoNaWork Project, in alphabetical order, are as follows: Dr. Akira Ogami, Dr. Ayako Hino, Dr. Hajime Ando, Dr. Hisashi Eguchi, Dr. Keiji Muramatsu, Dr. Koji Mori, Dr. Kosuke Mafune, Dr. Makoto Okawara, Dr. Mami Kuwamura, Dr. Mayumi Tsuji, Dr. Ryutaro Matsugaki, Dr. Seiichiro Tateishi, Dr. Shinya Matsuda, Dr. Tomohiro Ishimaru, and Dr. Tomohisa Nagata, Dr. Yoshihisa Fujino (present chairperson of the study group), and Dr. Yu Igarashi. All members are affiliated with the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan. We would also like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing.

Availability of data and materials

The data produced in the Collaborative Online Research on the Novel-coronavirus and Work (CORoNaWork) Project are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding authors.

Author contributions

K.I. wrote the manuscript and analyzed the data; H.A. analyzed the data; and Y.F. was the chairperson of the study group. All authors designed the research protocol and developed the questionnaire. All authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Institutional review board statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by an Institutional Ethics committee. See details under Methods.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported and partly funded by the research grant from the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan (no grant number); Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H30-josei-ippan-002, H30-roudou-ippan-007, 19JA1004, 20JA1006, 210301-1, and 20HB1004); Anshin Zaidan (no grant number), the Collabo-Health Study Group (no grant number), and Hitachi Systems, Ltd. (no grant number) and scholarship donations from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (no grant number). The funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication.