Working from home during COVID-19: Does work-family conflict mediate the relationship between workplace characteristics, job satisfaction and general health?

Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate whether work-family conflict and/or family-work conflict mediated the relationship between workplace characteristics and general health and job satisfaction in a sample of workers working from home in a recommended/mandatory context due to COVID-19 measures.

Methods: Data were collected via online questionnaire as part of the Employees Working from Home study. Analyses in this article used data collected at 2 time points 6 months apart, including 965 complete responses from the first questionnaire and 451 complete responses from the second questionnaire.

Results: Relationships between predictor and outcome variables were in the directions expected, and both work-family conflict and family-work conflict mediated these relationships.

Conclusions: Work-life interaction partly explains the relationship between work characteristics and general health and job satisfaction health in a population undertaking involuntary working from home.