CPD Activities: Learning from experiences of working at home during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Professor Anne Harriss developed these CPD activities to accompany Charlotte E Hall’s article about the experience of working from home and the lessons learned during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

These resources should help occupational health professionals better understand the challenges from a perspective of health, wellbeing, and OH, as well as how to address them. They can also provide information on other resources.

Activity 1

The American management consulting firm McKinsey & Company provides professional services to a variety of organisations, such as corporations and governments.

The Future of Work After COVID-19 is the first of a series of three reports that examines aspects of a post-pandemic economic environment.

Reflect on the McKinsey Report or its Executive Summary. What in this report resonates with your personal experiences?

You can access the executive summary by clicking on the link. Note: You may have to register for free with McKinsey in order to access this resource. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19#/

Activity 2

ACAS’s conciliation service has several resources on working from home. These resources provide information on the factors that managers need to consider.

Wellbeing when working from home: health, safety and wellbeing https://www.acas.org.uk/health-safety-and-wellbeing-when-working-from-home

Managing staff who work from home: supporting and managing staff https://www.acas.org.uk/managing-staff-who-work-from-home

Home and hybrid working policies: creating or updating policies https://www.acas.org.uk/policies-for-home-and-hybrid-working

Home and hybrid working requests: asking to work from home https://www.acas.org.uk/requests-for-home-and-hybrid-working

Activity 3

Consider how your organisation dealt with the Covid Pandemic. Especially, its approach in the lead-up and then during lockdown.

Was it managed well? How could it have been managed better?

Activity 4

Hall et. al. (2023) examine the impact of homeworking during Covid-19, on mental health and productivity. This systematic review can be accessed by clicking the link below. Then, reflect on its implications for your organization.

Hall C.E., Davidson, Brooks, S.K., Greenberg, D.W. (2023). A systematic review of the relationship between mental health and productivity and homeworking during COVID-19. BMC Psychol 11, 188 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01221-3. Available from: https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-023-01221-3

Activity 5

Consider how you might use this guidance in your practice. Consider how you might use this guidance in your practice, https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/guides/effective-hybrid-working/

Activity 6

The Health and Safety Executive and Society of Occupational Medicine both have resources on working from home. These resources can be accessed and adapted to your workplace.

Managing homeworkers’ health and safety – A resource aimed at employees https://www.hse.gov.uk/home-working/employer/index.htm

Homeworking your health and safety – A resource aimed at employees: https://www.hse.gov.uk/home-working/worker/index.htm

Working with display screen equipment at home https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/home-working.htm

Society of Occupational Medicine – Home working and display screen equipment DSE during COVID-19 https://www.som.org.uk/Home_Working_and_DSE_during_COVID-19_factsheet.pdf

Activity 7

These TED talks will highlight some important factors regarding hybrid working.

Mark Mortensen – Is remote working better than being at the office? It’s complicated https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_mortensen_is_remote_work_better_than_being_in_the_office_it_s_complicated?subtitle=en

Sarah Aviram: Does greater freedom at work lead to more fulfillment? https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_aviram_does_more_freedom_at_work_mean_more_fulfillment_dec_2023?subtitle=en