Journal ElsevierWorking from home has become an established part of everyday working life for many employees since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there has so far been only limited research into how different ways of working from home are associated with presenteeism – that is, working despite illness.

In their article “Ill at Home, Still at Work? Working from Home Practices and Sickness Presenteeism”, Lena Zöhrer and Heiko Breitsohl, together with Nils Backhaus and Sophie-Charlotte Meyer from the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, examine how different working-from-home practices are associated with both the decision to work despite illness and the number of days employees work despite illness.
Key findings from representative data on the German workforce include:

• Informal or supplemental work from home is associated both with the decision to work despite illness and with a higher number of days worked despite illness.
• Formal working-from-home agreements are not associated with the decision to work while ill, but they are linked to fewer days worked despite illness.
• Previous experience of working from home, as well as preferences regarding the separation of work and private life, could provide useful starting points for creating health-promoting working-from-home arrangements.

From a practical perspective, the findings suggest that employers should minimize the need for informal or supplemental work from home and set out clear expectations in working-from-home agreements for situations in which employees are ill.
The article has been published in the journal Social Science & Medicine and is freely available:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119542
Der Beitrag New study on working from home and working despite illness published in Social Science & Medicine erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.