Hindering and enabling factors for young employees with common mental disorder to remain at or return to work affected by the Covid-19 pandemic – a qualitative interview study with young employees and managers

by Martina Wallberg, Helena Tinnerholm Ljungberg, Elisabeth Björk Brämberg, Lotta Nybergh, Irene Jensen, Caroline Olsson

During the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in working life occurred, even in Sweden, where there was no general lockdown. The aim of this study was to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic was perceived as affecting the hindering and enabling factors among young employees with CMD to remain at or return to work, here as investigated from the perspective of young employees and managers.

A qualitative design was applied with semistructured interviews with 23 managers and 25 young employees (20–29 years old). The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and the parts of the interviews related to the aim of this article were analysed using conventional content analysis.

The hindering factors were changed working conditions, decreased well-being when spending more time at home, and uncertainty. The enabling factors were decreased demands, increased balance, and well-functioning work processes. For managers it is important to be aware of warning signals indicating blurred boundaries between work and private life, to create and maintain well-functioning communication, and leave room for recovery.

The hindering and enabling factors can be described as two sides of the same coin. Changes in the working conditions during the pandemic led to difficulties for both young employees and managers when the margins of maneuver were insufficient.