Office workers’ health during the pandemic lockdown in the Netherlands

Abstract

The worldwide spread of the Coronavirus disease 2019 forced governments to enact different measures to mitigate the infections. Employers and workers had to adjust by shifting a substantial number of jobs to a “work from home” configuration (WFH). On average, people used to spend around 90% of their time indoors, however, this number may have increased during the pandemic. This study aims to investigate the health status of office workers after nine months of a WFH format during the lockdown. A questionnaire was developed to assess the self-reported during the lockdown of office workers. A link to the questionnaire was sent to the employees of ten offices across the Netherlands, in November of 2020. A total of 502 employees responded to the questionnaire, which included diseases suffered during the last twelve months (i.e. asthma, wheezing, rhinitis, hay fever, anxiety, migraine, etc.). Data were analyzed by performing descriptive statistics of the general characteristics and the health status. The results show that during the lockdown and WFH, conditions such as eczema, depression and anxiety are higher than the average prevalence during non-lockdown situations. This may be due to lifestyle changes, such as reduced social interactions, increased distractions, and increased uncertainty.