Mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and its antecedents of crafting, work and home demands and resources: longitudinal profile analyses in Germany, Switzerland and Austria

The uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and limited resources to manage blurred work-life boundaries during remote work, have impacted many employees’ mental well-being to varying degrees. In this study, we used latent profile analysis to identify the number and type of subgroups of the longitudinal patterns of mental well-being over the course of two and a half years, among 585 employees in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. We also examined whether demands, resources, and crafting strategies across work and non-work domains, increased the likelihood of belonging to a subgroup with different levels of mental well-being. Our findings revealed three subgroups (high, medium, low well-being) of relatively stable mental well-being over time, with the majority in the medium profile ( N = 232, 39.66%). During the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, employees with higher home developmental possibilities, mental home demands and home social support were more likely to belong to higher mental well-being subgroups. During the pandemic, off-job crafting only predicted differences between high versus medium mental well-being, whereas pre-pandemic, it predicted belonging to higher than lower well-being across all subgroups. Meanwhile, colleagues’ support no longer predicted belonging to specific subgroups during the pandemic as it did pre-pandemic. In sum, our results highlight the importance of both work, and especially the non-work domain, for preserving mental well-being during the pandemic and beyond. Organizations are encouraged to support work-life balance and boundary management through family support and flexible policies, as these may employees’ mental well-being during and beyond the crisis.