Factors Affecting Work Productivity Loss: Working from Home and Insights Gained During COVID-19

 

 

Scientific Study Title:

Trajectories of work productivity loss: Working from home and insights during COVID-19

 

Study Start Date:

April 2024

End Date:

March 2025

 

Why Do This Research?

The number of workers with chronic health problems has been increasing with the aging of the population and workforce. The impact of health problems on work productivity may be larger among middle-aged or older adults and this may keep them from staying in the workforce. Understanding the factors that affect work productivity loss is important to inform workplace and government support to help middle-aged or older workers stay in the workforce and maintain their work productivity. This is especially important due to the aging of the Canadian population and shortages in the workforce. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been more attention on working from home (WFH) arrangements. Employees, employers and policy makers are now wondering what the best work arrangements are, especially to maintain work productivity. Therefore, it is timely and important to look at the impact of WFH on work productivity loss to see whether this can be a good option for an aging working population to keep up their work productivity. However, there is a lack of research that has looked at these questions. We propose to tackle these knowledge gaps using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) data. Our research will provide evidence to inform workplace and government support to help middle-aged or older workers stay in the workforce and keep up their productivity.

What Will Be Done?

People affected by worsening health due to aging or living with chronic conditions may not be able to work as well as they have in the past. This can take the form of still being at work but less productive (referred to as “presenteeism”), or working fewer hours, or stopping work completely. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to WFH have also affected people’s work and productivity. Few studies have looked at how work productivity loss is changing over time, how presenteeism leads to unemployment or retirement, especially in an aging population, and how COVID-19 and WFH may also have an impact. This research will tackle these knowledge gaps. It will provide evidence to support workplace and government efforts to help middle-aged or older workers stay in the workforce and keep up their productivity. The research will be based on the CLSA data, and will look at four specific objectives:

This study will inform workplace and government support aimed at maintaining work productivity, including whether WFH is a viable arrangement. This study has four specific objectives:

  1. Look at employment status changes over time among middle-aged or older workers and identify what factors are associated with the changes;
  2. Measure the association between current presenteeism and future employment status in the short-medium term within the context of COVID-19;
  3. Measure the change in presenteeism over time in those who stay employed in the short-medium term, and look at the impact of WFH during COVID-19 on the change in presenteeism;
  4. Look at the sex and gender similarities and differences in Objectives 1-3.

 

Who Is Involved?

A study team led by a Health Economist and including:

  • a researcher whose work focuses on workplace communication, privacy, support and accommodation needs among individuals living with chronic, episodic conditions, including older workers;
  • a researcher specializing in studying the impact of work and organizational context on organizational behaviour;
  • a rheumatologist and researcher specializing in studying the impact of arthritis on employment and preventing work disability and developing supporting interventions to help patients deal with employment;
  • a researcher whose work focuses on the evaluation of occupational health policies and practices and on the causes and consequences of work-related injury and disease;
  • a patient partner who contributes her lived experiences and helps find interpretation and knowledge translation.

 

 

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 

One of the study objectives is to look at the sex and gender similarities and differences in the changes of work productivity loss over time, as well as the impact of WFH. In addition, the study will also consider other factors that can be associated with the changes of work productivity loss, for example, age, ethnicity, education, income and occupation.

 

Research Team

Principal Investigator: 

Wei Zhang, MA, PhD, Research Scientist, Health Economics, Arthritis Research Canada, (University of British Columbia)

Co-Investigators:

Monique Gignac, PhD, (University of Toronto)

Gary Johns, PhD, (Concordia University)

Diane Lacaille, MDCM, MHSc, FRCPC, Scientific Director, Arthritis Research Canada (University of British Columbia)

Christopher McLeod, PhD (University of British Columbia)

Collaborator:

Lin Chen, (Patient Voices Network)

 

Funding Agency

Canadian Institutes of Health Research