With many employers requesting employees back into the office, thoughts have turned to just what kind of arrangement would be best. Research from the University of Michigan suggests that employees appear to be trying to downplay the risks of infection as they return to the office.

The researchers quizzed nearly 4,000 people who had been working from home during the pandemic period. The results showed that among those who were heading back into the office there was a general desire to downplay any health risks associated with the return. What’s more, these people were also quite pessimistic about the various risks associated with continuing to work from home.

Motivated optimism

It’s an example of something known as “motivated optimism”, which is when we tend to downplay any future risks in order to better manage any feelings of anxiety we may experience.

“People get both relatively more optimistic about the risks at work and relatively less optimistic about the risks at home,” the researchers say. “If you’re working from home, you want to believe that is not very risky, and you think, ‘I’m so glad I’m not going to work; it’s super risky.’ Compared to these folks, the people who are about to return to work think that it’s not so bad after all, while also thinking about home, ‘It’s probably not as safe as I thought.’”

What’s more, the researchers found that those who were at greatest risk from the virus, such as older workers or those with various underlying medical conditions, were even more optimistic about their return to the office than their lower-risk peers.

The researchers believe their findings highlight the importance of motivated reasoning to our decision-making, especially when faced with seemingly risky situations.

“These people are the most anxious about returning to work,” they explain. “The fact that this group has the largest belief changes as they approach their return to work supports the idea that people are trying to make themselves feel better by deadening their worries.”

The authors believe that by better understanding this phenomenon, both managers and health officials can better communicate with people and devise effective policies for a safe return to the office.

“Who are you going to target, and when should you try to change beliefs when people are motivated to downplay risks? Our results shed a new light on that,” the researchers conclude.