Ongoing Researches

Perceptions of Home Office Ergonomics and Experiences during COVID-19 in India: A Survey Study

The aim was to understand the ergonomic challenges in India witnessed during the sudden the global pandemic of COVID-19. COVID-19 has resulted in drastic changes and challenges in office functioning. The shift has been for more than two months now, and the ergonomic setup of the home office has become essential to study because of the uncertainty of times. The current study employed survey research and qualitative interview to investigate the ergonomics of current work from home situation. 547 participants completed the survey circulated online. 30 participants were interviewed to get an insight into the experiences of working from home during COVID-19, thematic analysis was employed to study the interviews.
69% of participants reported discomfort in workstations and increased work pressure. 74% of participants have recently started working from home and are learning to function using information and communication technology (ICT). Increased work from home schedule has also resulted in decreased work-life balance. During interviews, five themes of COVID-19 work from home emerged.In light of the COVID-19 situation, an analysis of work from home structure shows (a) lack of appropriate equipment in home office setup resulting in physical strain (b) Increased mental strain due to skewed work-life balance (c) increased work pressure and lack of organizational policies.The findings will help employees to identify key ergonomic demands in work from home set up and organize their efforts to improve their work from home setup.