According to the current Aeris study "Working from home", 53 percent of employees in the DACH region now have experience of working from home - not least as a result of the measures to contain the corona pandemic. In individual sectors such as banking, insurance, IT or telecommunications, this rate is already 80 percent or more. Even though this has enabled many companies to successfully maintain operations, the health record so far has been sobering: 64 percent of employees complain of health problems caused by working from home. "Homeworkers" are particularly plagued by back, muscle and headaches. For the study, Aeris, a manufacturer of active chairs and movement solutions for the office, home office and home sector, conducted a survey of 2,000 employees in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The graphic shows the most common complaints that arise from working from home with the wrong equipment. Over a quarter of those surveyed complain of back pain. /small>
As the study further shows, the causes of many health problems can clearly be found in the design of the home office. Only about half of homeworkers (56%) have their own home office, while the rest have to improvise at dining, kitchen or living room tables as well as in bedrooms and guest rooms. In addition, working couples often have to share a home office or take turns using it.
In addition, more than every second employee with home office experience complains that their workplace is significantly worse equipped both in terms of technology (53%) and office furniture (54%) than their actual workplace in the company. One in three employees would like to have an ergonomic office chair and a height-adjustable desk at home.
The following results from the Aeris study, for example, show the health consequences of the design and equipment of the home office workplace: While a total of two thirds of employees in the home office complain of health problems, the figure for those who have to use the bedroom or guest room as a workplace is as high as around three out of four employees.
Too many people still sit still too often.
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Josef Glöckl
Managing Director Aeris GmbH
The list of health problems caused by working from home is topped by back pain (26%). Muscle pain (e.g. in the neck or shoulder area) and headaches (21% each) follow closely behind. In addition to weight gain, 20 percent of the homeworkers surveyed complain of tiredness and exhaustion as well as stress and restlessness. For more than one in ten (12%), working from home even leads to psychological problems such as fatigue and depression.
"The dark season that has now begun is likely to exacerbate these health problems," Aeris founder Josef Glöckl is convinced. "Firstly, many companies have already noticeably increased the number of people working from home in view of the rising number of infections and secondly, the opportunities to do sports outdoors are significantly fewer in autumn and winter."
It is therefore all the more important to set up the home office workplace as healthily as possible. "Innovative office chairs that allow constant movement, such as the Aeris Swopper, can also ensure that the back and neck muscles are strengthened," Glöckl continues. "Too many people still sit still too often. The lack of movement robs us of concentration, energy, creativity and, above all, our health after just a short time. Back pain is now the most common cause of sick leave. It is responsible for one in ten days of absence."
