How does the indoor environment affect mental health when working remotely?

The Movement Control Order (MCO) has forced significant segments of Malaysia’s economy to shut down or scale back operations in a nationwide effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. However, one segment of the population that is perhaps more susceptible to the adverse economic effects of the pandemic is the mental well-being of those who need to work remotely at home. This study expands on previous research by examining workers’ perceptions of remote working practices at home and their impact on a person’s mental condition. The reviewed literature presents four (4) main indoor environmental quality factors: spatial and thermal comfort; noise distraction and privacy; visual comfort; and overall satisfaction with their home and its relation to the work stress level, in addition to the emergence of the new norm of working during the pandemic. This study has shown that the quality of the indoor environment plays an important role in ensuring comfort when working from home, as the practice could have a negative or positive impact depending on the IEQ. From the results, most of the IEQ score values were more than 1, and the mean was the highest, which demonstrates a positive scale. The input from respondents on IEQ also indicates their mental well-being due to the fact that IEQ strongly affects workers’ stress and productivity levels when working from home. This paper recommends extending the study on gender and productivity level, as well as mental well-being (Factor 3), when working from home, and how this relationship may affect an organisation when such a policy is implemented.