Employees worked harder during Covid crisis, but aren't more stressed: study

Employees worked more hours during the coronavirus, both people who started working from home and those who still went to the office. But they did not experience extra stress or burnout symptoms because of this, TNO concluded after surveying over 10 thousand people in the Netherlands.

Over a third of people who work from home, and a quarter of people who work on location reported that they work longer hours than before the coronavirus crisis. But according to TNO, the percentage of workers with burnout symptoms remains "undiminished high" at 17 percent.

Despite the fact that many people now work longer hours, the overall percentage of people who work serious overtime decreased from 75 percent to 61 percent. Though those who do work overtime, do so frantically. "Before corona, these employees worked an average of four hours a week overtime, by mid-2020 that increased to eleven hours a week."

More than 80 percent of employees still describe their health as good to very good. "That is even slightly more than before the corona crisis," TNO said. This indicates that work-life balance did not change in the crisis, the researchers believe. "The results seem to indicate good resilience in employees."