The impacts of psychosocial risk factors evaluated with COPSOQ-III in the health status of office workers amid COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction and Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a medical risk factor, but also caused rapid and radical changes in working life in the context of process and crisis management. It was thought that the measures taken for the pandemic may raise psychosocial risk factors that office workers may exposed to in the "new normal" period and physical and mental health problems associated with these factors. Method: This research is a cross-sectional study. The combined questionnaire used in the study consists of relevant questions from the COPSOQ-III and OHCOW questionnaires and was voluntarily presented to a total of 340 office workers who continued to work in rotation (home/office) arrangement at the office of a private company in Istanbul between October- December 2020. 175 volunteer office workers (51.5%) participated in the study. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS statistics (v23) program. Student t-test and chi-square test were used for univariate analyzes of independent and dependent variables. Results: In the study, albeit there are many independent variables, the most important findings are among the employees of those had high anxiety state had statistically significant high scores of the variables of lack of trust, role clarity in the workplace, workload, work-home conflicts, meaninglessness of task, quality of work and insecurity of job, and insecurity of working conditions. In addition, it was found that supervisors (enforcers) were the ones who exposed to some specific psychosocial risks at a higher rate. Conclusion: It has been observed that many psychosocial risk factors have negative effects on the current general health and anxiety status of the participants. The rotating flexible working system determined by the company has both positive and negative aspects on employees. It is important to take necessary actions in a timely manner by establishing a safe and healthy communication bridge between employees and workplaces in order to foresee and minimize the negative effects that psychosocial risks may cause, especially during crisis periods.