New report about the impact of the pandemic on the work environment
A report from the Swedish Agency for Work Environment Expertise examines how the work environment changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is based on data collected before, during and after the pandemic. The results take different factors in the work environment and work-life balance into account for different groups in the Swedish labour market.
Photo: Yasmina H, Unsplash
On behalf of the Swedish Agency for Work Environment Expertise, researchers at Stockholm University have produced a report analysing how the work environment developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analyses are based on both psychosocial and organisational work environment factors. It also examines whether the pandemic had an impact on work-life balance. The report presents how these work environment factors have developed for different groups in the working population in Sweden.
Positive changes for several groups
- It is interesting to note that there was a decrease in both the negative impact of work on private life and the negative impact of private life on work, and that this trend was seen among almost all of the six occupational groups examined. The exceptions are occupations in primary education and childcare where no changes were observed. In addition, an increased positive, 'enriching' impact of work on private life was seen among service occupations, among occupations with good opportunities for teleworking, and other occupations requiring higher education. Occupations with good opportunities to work remotely stood out as the occupational group where improvements were seen in all four dimensions. This is according to Cecilia Stenfors, project leader and associate professor at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University.
Occupations with good opportunities to work remotely stood out as the occupational group where improvements were seen in all four dimensions.
- The evolution of estimated job insecurity also varied across occupational groups. For example, a more pronounced increase in job insecurity was seen especially at the beginning of the pandemic, but also at the end, in service occupations and among workers in, for example, construction, manufacturing and the transport industry, as well as in occupations with good opportunities for teleworking.
Nationally representative sample
The report is based on data collected in SLOSH (the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health) during the years 2014-2022, including five measurement occasions both before, during and after the pandemic. The participants in the study are representative of employees in the entire Swedish labour market. The researchers have thus been able to compare developments for different occupational groups over time.
- It is worth emphasising that the analyses in this report are about changes in the development of various work environment factors at the group level, which means that the results do not indicate what the changes in the work environment during the pandemic looked like for individuals, which of course varies, says Cecilia Stenfors.
Stenfors, C.U.D., Stengård, J., Magnusson Hanson, L.L. & Westerlund, H. (2024). Utvecklingen av den organisatoriska och psykosociala arbetsmiljön på den svenska arbetsmarknaden innan och under covid-19-pandemin (2014-2022). Rapport 2024:8, Myndigheten för arbetsmiljökunskap.
Read more about Cecilia Stenfors' research
Text: Beatrice Chaveroche
The Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)
SLOSH is a unique panel study that elucidates how different factors in people's working lives, private lives and health affect each other over time. The aim is to increase knowledge of how risks of disease and ill health can be reduced, and thus contribute to better public health.
SLOSH is located at the Stress Research Institute, a part of the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University.
Project leader for SLOSH is Hugo Westerlund, professor of epidemiology.
Last updated: 2025-12-16
Source: REWHARD