Mental wellbeing among Danish employees during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from a longitudinal study on the role of industry and working environment

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on working life. Previous studies have primarily focused on the mental health and wellbeing of healthcare workers and are mostly based on cross-sectional data from non-representative samples. The aim of this study was to investigate mental wellbeing trajectories among employees from different industries, and to longitudinally identify factors that affect mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, including job insecurity, fear of COVID-19, working from home or being discharged with wage compensation and management quality. Methods Baseline data were obtained from the Danish Health and Wellbeing Survey in 2019 (September-December), with follow-up in September-November 2020. We included 1995 respondents, who completed the questionnaire in both waves and were employed in 2020 and measured mental wellbeing using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. Results Mental wellbeing declined among employees in all industries. Employees working from home and employees unsatisfied with management experienced a greater decline in mental wellbeing. We found no differences in mental wellbeing trajectories in relation to fear of infecting others or contracting COVID-19, job insecurity and being discharged with wage compensation. Conclusions Mental wellbeing declined among employees in all industries with no difference between industries. Employees working from home may have been particularly vulnerable, and the analyses show that managers play a key role in mitigating the negative consequences of the pandemic by ensuring adequate information and involvement of employees.