¹Arbo Unie, Kenniscentrum Werk en Gezondheid, Nieuwegein, Netherlands
²Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam, Netherlands
³Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
⁴National Institute for Public Health and Environment, Center for Prevention, Lifestyle and Health, Bilthoven, Netherlands
⁵Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Introduction: Hybrid work, a flexible work model that combines remote work with in-office work, has become a common work arrangement among office workers. This flexible work arrangement impacts workers’ physical activity (PA), and several reviews show an increased prevalence of musculoskeletal pain (MSP) in employees during remote working. However, these studies examined employees in general and did not specifically focus on the effects of hybrid work. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is to 1) examine the association between hybrid work, and MSP and PA in white-collar workers compared to working fully from home or at the office, and 2) examine the difference between working from home days and working at the office days with respect to MSP and PA in white-collar workers working hybrid.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in MEDLINE and Web of Science. Full-text, peer reviewed articles were included if they fit the research questions. Studies were included if they compared hybrid working to working fully at the office or fully from home and entailed quantitative data on at least one of the outcome measures. This abstract is part of a broader systematic review that also includes other outcomes.

Results: At the time of writing this abstract, this systematic review is still in progress, and we are currently screening studies. Several eligible articles have already emerged. One study found that white-collar telecommuters in South-Korea were more at risk for MSP compared to daily commuters (Ryoo et al., 2023). Another study reported that workers who only work from home were more likely to have MSP in the lower back, upper back and neck/shoulders and/or arms than hybrid workers (Bosma et al., 2023). Additionally, a study found that hybrid workers were more likely to be sedentary for >9 h per workday than location workers, and workers who were sedentary for >9 h per workday were also more likely to have MSP in the lower/upper back, arm, neck and/or shoulder (Loef et al., 2022). Furthermore, hybrid workers were more sedentary during home workdays than during office workdays (Wahlström et al., 2023), but switched more often between sitting and standing during home workdays compared to office workdays (widar et al., 2021). We expect to present the full results at the time of the conference.

Discussion: These preliminary results show that hybrid work may increase the risk of MSP compared to working fully at the office, but may decrease the risk compared to working fully from home. This suggests that during hybrid work the balance between the number of office workdays and home workdays matters for employee health. In addition, sedentary behaviour seems to mediate the risk of MSP in hybrid work, with longer sitting times for home workdays, which is important to take into account.

Conclusion: These preliminary results show that hybrid work may increase sedentary behaviour, decrease PA and increase the risk of MSP in white collar workers. These results can be used to formulate recommendations for optimizing hybrid work arrangements.