How can remote workers create a home office built for success? (2024)

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MAASTRICHT, Netherlands — When the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of people to work from home, many companies and employees were anxious about the impact on productivity. However, a new study suggests the key to making remote work successful may lie in the design and environment of the home office.

Researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands surveyed over 1,000 Dutch workers who transitioned to working from home (WFH) during the pandemic. What they found was that the physical characteristics of the home office – from air quality and temperature to the ergonomics of the desk and chair – played a major role in determining productivity, burnout levels, and willingness to continue working remotely.

“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,” lead author Martijn Stroom writes in the journal PLOS ONE. “Failure to do so is not only likely to be associated with decreased productivity, but also decreased willingness to work from home, and increased burnout tendency.”

Setting Up a Productive Home Office

The researchers found that higher satisfaction with the home office environment was significantly associated with increased productivity and decreased burnout. Specific factors that made a big difference included:

Air Quality: Participants who reported better ventilation of their home office, either through opening windows or using mechanical systems, had higher satisfaction with the indoor environment. This in turn was linked to a 0.5-point increase (on a 10-point scale) in self-reported productivity, as well as a 0.4-point decrease in burnout tendency (on a 7-point scale) and a 1.2-point increase in willingness to continue working from home (on a 10-point scale).

“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, and decreased burnout tendency,” Stroom explains.

Ergonomics: Satisfaction with the desk, chair, computer monitor, and other hardware in the home office was also strongly linked to higher productivity and lower burnout. Participants who were more satisfied with the ergonomics of their home setup tended to report a 0.3 standard deviation increase in productivity.

Overall, the researchers found that improving the physical environment of the home office, through both ventilation and ergonomic upgrades, was key to remote work success. And the benefits went beyond just productivity – better home office conditions were also associated with greater willingness to continue working from home and greater resilience against burnout.

Overcoming the Challenges of Remote Work

The findings challenge some common assumptions about the downsides of remote work. Previous research has suggested that working from home can hurt productivity, damage relationships with coworkers, and lead to burnout.

However, the Maastricht University team found that these issues were largely driven by the physical shortcomings of the home office, rather than inherent problems with remote work itself. By creating a dedicated, comfortable, and well-ventilated workspace, workers were able to maintain high productivity and avoid many of the pitfalls associated with working from home.

“What has gained limited attention is the physical climate of the home office in which work takes place,” the study authors write. “This study investigates the relationship between the home office environment… and self-reported measures of work satisfaction, productivity and burnout tendency.”

The researchers also uncovered some interesting demographic differences. For example, they found that older workers and those with larger households tended to report higher productivity when working from home, while having children present during work hours was associated with decreased productivity and increased burnout.

These results suggest that the success of remote work isn’t just about the job itself, but also the individual’s home environment and personal circ*mstances. Employers may need to take these factors into account when supporting and empowering their remote workforce.

Measuring What Matters

A key insight from the study is the importance of objective measurement, rather than relying solely on self-reported satisfaction. The researchers found that participants’ subjective assessments of air quality, for instance, were not good predictors of actual productivity. It was only when they looked at real behaviors like ventilation that the connection to performance became clear.

“Solely based on self-report analysis, ventilation would have been an unlikely factor considered to improve the success of WFH,” Stroom says. “Our results also suggest that it is crucial to objectively measure the quality of the physical environment, as merely collecting self-reported satisfaction scores might paint an incomplete or even incorrect picture.”

This suggests that employers and employees should think beyond just asking workers how satisfied they are with their home offices. Investing in tools to monitor factors like air quality, temperature, and ergonomics could provide more meaningful insights to optimize the remote work experience.

The Future of Remote Work

As the world continues to grapple with the long-term impacts of the pandemic, the findings from this study offer an important roadmap for the future of remote work. By focusing on the physical environment of the home office, companies and employees can unlock the true potential of working from home – boosting productivity, reducing burnout, and ensuring a sustainable remote work model.

“The physical climate of the home office plays a key role in work-from-home productivity. Different home offices are likely to lead to different willingness to work from home and work-from-home success!” the team concludes in a media release.