COVID-19 anxiety: How return-to-office mandates are impacting U.S. employees

According to a poll, at least half of in-person workers say balancing responsibilities, potential COVID exposure at work, commute and social interaction are sources of stress.

Last summer, Julio Carmona started the process of weaning himself off a fully remote work schedule by showing up to the office once a week.

The new hybrid schedule at his job at a state agency in Stratford, Connecticut, still enabled him to spend time cooking dinner for his family and taking his teenage daughter to basketball.

But in the next few months, he’s facing the likelihood of more mandatory days in the office. And that’s creating stress for the father of three.

Carmona, 37, whose father died from COVD-19 last year, worries about contracting the virus but he also ticks off a list of other anxieties: increased costs for lunch and gas, day care costs for his newborn baby, and his struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

“Working from home has been a lot less stressful when it comes to work-life balance,” said Carmona, who works in finance at Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families. “You are more productive because there are a lot less distractions.”

As more companies mandate a return to the office, workers must readjust to pre-pandemic rituals like long commutes, juggling child care and physically interacting with colleagues. But such routines have become more difficult two years later. Spending more time with your colleagues could increase exposure to the coronavirus, for example, while inflation has increased costs for lunch and commuting.

Among workers who were remote and have gone back at least one day a week in-person, more say things in general have gotten better than worse and that they’ve been more productive rather than less, an April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows. But the level of stress for these workers is elevated.

Overall, among employed adults, the April AP-NORC poll shows 16% say they work remotely, 13% work both remotely and in-person and 72% say they work only in-person.