Working from home during COVID-19 in a Danish hospital research setting: experiences of researchers and healthcare providers, explored by Group Concept Mapping

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 12; no. 8; p. e063279
• Main Authors: Specht, Ina Olmer, Winckler, Karoline, Christensen, Robin, Bomhoff, Claus, Raffing, Rie, Wæhrens, Eva Ejlersen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London British Medical Journal Publishing Group 01.08.2022; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Series: Original research
• Subjects: Anxiety; Caregivers; Cluster analysis; Concept mapping; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Employees; Employment; human resource management; Medical research; Occupational and Environmental Medicine; organisational development; Pandemics; Participation; Physicians; Researchers; Software; Stress; Work environment; Denmark
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-063279

ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has changed the working environment, how we think of it and how it stands to develop into the future. Knowledge about how people have continued to work on-site and adjusted to working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown will be vital for planning work arrangements in the post-pandemic period. Our primary objective was to investigate experiences of working from home or having colleagues working from home during a late stage of the COVID-19 lockdown among researchers and healthcare providers in a hospital research setting. Second, we aimed to investigate researchers’ productivity through changes in various proxy measures during lockdown as compared with pre-lockdown.DesignMixed-method participatory Group Concept Mapping (GCM).Setting and participantsGCM, based on a mixed-method participatory approach, was applied involving researchers’ and healthcare providers’ online sorting and rating experiences working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. At a face-to-face meeting, participants achieved consensus on the number and labelling of domains—the basis for developing a conceptual model.ResultsThrough the GCM approach, 47 participants generated 125 unique statements of experiences related to working from home, which were organised into seven clusters. Using these clusters, we developed a conceptual model that illustrated the pros and cons of working from home.ConclusionThe future work setting, the role of the office and the overall work environment need to respond to workers’ increased wish for flexible work arrangements and co-decision.