Increasing Health Risks Of The Remote Workplace

Here’s how employers can address it

Working from home has become the new normal during Covid-19. I know for me, suddenly working from home along with my children last spring, who were participating in online learning, was not an easy adjustment. As Chief Medical Officer and a practicing physician, I’ve had to rethink advice to patients (and myself) on how to navigate emerging health risks that come with this transition to remote work.
 

In a recent Hinge Health Survey Report “New Health Risks in the Remote Workplace,” two-thirds of respondents said they are currently working from home. Remote work is likely here to stay even long after the pandemic with more companies offering remote work as a permanent option. However, what are the emerging health risks with widespread remote work? And how can employers effectively address them as the workplace evolves during and post-covid?

Here are some of the top challenges our survey report uncovered and how employers can address these emerging health issues.

Lack of Movement Was a Top Challenge for Remote Workers

Not surprisingly, social isolation and loneliness tops the list of challenges for remote workers with 37% of the survey respondents citing it as their top issue with remote work. 

Moreover, lack of movement was the second top challenge for remote workers, with 35% saying they aren’t moving enough, according to the Survey Report. Skipping the commute and sitting in endless video calls means many employees are suffering from a lack of physical activity and movement during their typical remote work day. In the old office life, employees used to walk as part of their commute, step out to grab lunch, or dash between meeting rooms in their office building. What’s more established exercise routines (e.g. going to the gym at lunch or playing a sport after work) have been disrupted. Finally, difficulties separating work and personal life came in third on the list, with a third of survey respondents citing this as a key challenge with remote work.

Working From Home Is Taking a Toll on Employees’ Back and Joint Pain

Since people started working in makeshift home offices with minimal movement, it’s not surprising this more sedentary lifestyle is having an impact on employees’ back, neck and other joint pain. According to the Survey Report, 45% said they are experiencing back and joint pain since they started working from home. 71% said the pain has either gotten worse or it’s a new pain they’re experiencing since working from home. 

Remote Work Is Also Impacting Employee Mental Health

With social isolation and work/life balance topping the list of challenges for remote workers during Covid-19, mental health is also a growing issue for employees. Almost half (48%) of survey respondents also said they’re experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression since working from home. And 73% said their stress, anxiety, and depression have worsened or is a new experience they’re feeling since remote work due to Covid-19. 

With remote work as the new normal, here are 5 ways employers can proactively address these emerging health risks to enhance employee well-being.  

5 Ways Employers Can Address Emerging Health Risks During Remote Work

1. Encourage daily movement at work
With lack of movement cited as the top challenge for remote workers, encourage your employees to exercise and move as part of their daily routine. Offer free virtual gym access with a library of video exercise classes to keep employees moving or suggest daily stretching exercises in between meetings. It’s also a good idea to recommend scheduling “walking meetings” via phone so employees can get out and walk around instead of sitting and staring at their computer screen. Here are 5 Ways to Incorporate Movement While Working from Home.

2. Address stress and mental health in a more holistic way
Social isolation and work/life balance are both top challenges for remote workers during Covid-19. Mental health conditions and chronic back and joint pain are closely related, with 1 in 3 of our survey respondents suffering from both conditions. Chronic pain and depression share many of the same neural pathways in the brain--making it critical to address both conditions at the same time. To resolve both mental health and chronic musculoskeletal pain, consider offering virtual mental and behavioral health support together with back and joint care. It’s also important to provide stress-relief programs like yoga, mindfulness meditation, advice on work/life balance, sleep and other related topics to help reduce stress in your workforce. 

3. Address back and joint pain early and avoid surgeries
With back and joint pain on the rise during remote work, employers may want to take preventative measures to avoid severe back and joint pain and avoid expensive surgeries. Exercise therapy is proven to more effectively resolve chronic back and joint pain without requiring unnecessary surgery or reliance on pain medications. With employees preferring to avoid in-person visits to medical facilities during Covid, new digital health options can treat employees from the comfort of their homes. 

4. Offer virtual ergonomic consultations and reimburse home office equipment 
Working off of a laptop or in makeshift offices for long periods of time is not ideal and can result in chronic back, neck, and shoulder pain. Consider offering ergonomic consultations over video calls to ensure your employees’ home office setup helps minimize long-term chronic musculoskeletal pain. We were surprised to find in our survey that only 19% of employers offered reimbursement for home office equipment.

Since working from home is the new normal, provide a small stipend for your employees anywhere from $200 to $1000 to reimburse them for key office equipment like comfortable desk chairs that support their back, monitor, and keyboard.

5. Prioritize well-being and work/life balance in your company culture
Finally, it’s not enough to just provide healthcare benefits, it’s also important to prioritize well-being in your company culture through policies as well as key messages from your leadership. For example, ensure managers encourage employees to take time off if they’re feeling burned out. Working from home has blurred the lines between work and personal lives, with a third of employees working more hours than they did in the office, according to our survey report. Suggesting a forced work “end-time” or prioritizing and deprioritizing tasks can ensure employees aren’t working long hours on a regular basis.  Allowing your employees time to take a break and rejuvenate will ultimately result in more productive and engaged workers. 

Dr. Jeffrey Krauss is Chief Medical Officer at Hinge Health and a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University in the Department of Orthopedics.   Connect Dr. Jeffrey Krauss Follow @JeffKraussMD