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How to Alleviate Feelings of Crowding in a Working from Home Environment: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • So Yeon Park

    (Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Julianalaan 134, 2628BL Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Caroline Newton

    (Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Julianalaan 134, 2628BL Delft, The Netherlands)

  • Rachel Lee

    (Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Julianalaan 134, 2628BL Delft, The Netherlands)

Abstract

The sudden adoption of working from home (WFH) during the COVID-19 pandemic has required the reconfiguration of home spaces to fit space for remote work into existing spaces already filled with other domestic functions. This resulted in blurring of home and work boundaries, the potential lack of space for telecommuting from home, and telecommuters’ feelings of crowding. Numerous studies have shown the negative effects of crowding feelings on workers’ responses. This study focused on the issue of crowding in the residential workspace. An online survey was conducted to investigate how features of the home workspace correlate with telecommuters’ feelings of crowding and how these feelings affect satisfaction, health, and productivity. As a result, we found that various environmental features of home workspaces (e.g., house size, purpose of workspace, accessible balcony, lighting, noise, etc.), as well as psychological aspects (e.g., individual control over space use), had significant effects on telecommuters’ feelings of crowdedness. It was also found that feelings of crowding in the WFH environment can directly and indirectly affect teleworkers’ satisfaction with work environments, well-being, and work performance. Based on the results, we offered various potential ways to alleviate overcrowding issues in the WFH context.

Suggested Citation

  • So Yeon Park & Caroline Newton & Rachel Lee, 2023. "How to Alleviate Feelings of Crowding in a Working from Home Environment: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1025-:d:1026868
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Allen, Thomas J. (Thomas John), 1931- & Gerstberger, Peter G., 1973. "A field experiment to improve communications in a product engineering department : the non-territorial office," Working papers WP 653-73., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    2. Jegar Pitchforth & Elizabeth Nelson-White & Marc van den Helder & Wouter Oosting, 2020. "The work environment pilot: An experiment to determine the optimal office design for a technology company," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-33, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maria Evangelou & Martha Katafygiotou, 2024. "Sustainability of the Housing Market: Post-COVID-19 Effects on Housing Preferences in Cyprus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-23, June.
    2. Tan, Fuqiang & Li, Xi & Agarwal, Reeti & Joshi, Yatish & Yaqub, Muhammad Zafar, 2024. "Does multilingual packaging influence purchasing in retail segment? Evidence from multiple experiments," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

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