Telework - stress and strain in a longitudinal study

The stress and strain experienced by teleworkers and a control group was me asured over nine months in a longitudinal study evaluating the effects of t elework. Compared to the control group, the stress and strain values for th e teleworkers only differed on a few dimensions. The communication opportun ities were indeed fewer for the home-based teleworkers than for the other g roups, but this group had greater time flexibility and experienced fewer in terruptions. The interruptions and communication opportunities decreased as the proportion of telework out of the total working hours increased. The t asks of the office-based alternating teleworkers were characterized by high er uncertainty, whereas the home-based alternating teleworkers reported les s diversity in their work compared to the other groups. No differences were observed in the main strain dimensions, though irritability and load incre ased with time, whereas general job satisfaction decreased. These results a re discussed in connection with a task-oriented organization of teleworkpla ces.