Health-promoting work design for telework in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Background. The contact restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have led many companies to allow their employees to work from home for infection control reasons. Objective. This literature review explores the question in what way health-promoting work from home can be excercised. Results. Working from home requires consideration of the same guidelines just like those for office and computer workstations. To prevent negative mental and physical stress reactions, an ergonomic workstation design is recommended. Furthermore, the organization of working time (structuring the working day, adhering to breaks and regeneration units, and avoiding disturbances and interruptions) is of great importance for a health-promoting work design at home. Conclusion. Important components of a health-promoting work design are temporal, spatial and mental separation of work and private life. Employees and their individual needs must be taken into account when designing a health-promoting workplace at home; however, the responsibility for implementing health-promoting work design mostly lies solely with the employees due to the ad hoc change of workplace.