BACKGROUND: Smart mobile devices gain increasing importance at work. Integrating these smart mobile devices into the workplace creates new opportunities and challenges for occupational health and safety. OBJECTIVES: Therefore the aim of the following

Digital technologies, although enhancing productivity and communication, also contribute to technostress at work. This study addresses the fragmentation in existing models of hindrance technostressors by proposing a unified hierarchical model of digital hindrance stressors tailored to contemporary digital work environments. The research synthesizes various existing models and uses a mixed-methods approach, including a qualitative prestudy and extensive surveys with more than 5,800 participants to identify and validate 12 first-order and 5 second-order digital hindrance stressors. The new model offers both detailed and streamlined measurement tools, enhancing its applicability in diverse organizational contexts. For practitioners and policymakers, this study provides a comprehensive framework to assess and mitigate the adverse impacts of digital stressors. The unified model allows organizations to understand specific stressors their employees face and implement targeted interventions to improve well-being and productivity. By using this model, occupational health professionals can better address the psychological and physical health implications of technostress. Moreover, the findings offer actionable insights for designing digital work environments that minimize stress and foster a healthier, more productive workforce. This research bridges the gap between theoretical technostress models and practical applications, guiding effective strategies for managing digital workplace stress.

With the increasing digital transformation, work tasks are changing—in some cases, significantly. Our study addresses the question of whether the established criteria for work design are still sufficient or if they should get updated and additional criteria become necessary in the context of digitalization. In a multistage consensus process involving interdisciplinary groups of experts, we have identified specific criteria for the humane design of work in a world increasingly permeated by digitalized work tools. Starting with an expert workshop using a combined nominal group/focus group technique, followed by a real-time Delphi study, a content analysis and a five-stage peer comment process, we detected 13 criteria and 38 design guidelines for human-centered work in digital transformation. Mapping these with established criteria, it became apparent that some established criteria have experienced a new dynamic because of the digital transformation. For other criteria, a need for digitization-sensitive design is discernible. In addition, criteria have emerged whose necessity is rooted in the digital transformation. A diffusion and stronger interconnection of the various levels of the work system in connection with the digital transformation of work is apparent.

Digitalisierung mit neuen Technologien und Vernetzungen ermöglichen mobiles Arbeiten an unterschiedlichsten Orten. Gerne wird dabei durch die Bildsprache eine moderne kreative und effiziente Arbeitsweise, zum Beispiel im Zug, im Café oder am See, suggeriert, für die es nichts weiter braucht als ein Smartphone und ein Notebook. Dabei ist auch und gerade an diesen Arbeitsplätzen ein passgenaues Zusammenspiel aus Aufgabe, Arbeitsmittel und Arbeitsumgebung der Kern einer erfolgreichen Gestaltung sicherer und gesunder Arbeit.

Aim: This research examines the performance and mental workload of knowledge workers in various work environments, with a specific focus on long-distance trains and activity-based work settings. As mobile work becomes increasingly prevalent in Europe, understanding the implications of such settings on worker productivity and well-being is essential. Subject and methods: Experiment 1 compares routine task performance and perceived mental workload between a stationary office and a long-distance train environment. Experiment 2 extends this inquiry by examining the effects of an activity-based work environment, where workers can choose their workspaces based on the task at hand. A total of 57 participants aged between 20 and 62 years were included in the analysis of Experiment 1. The analysis of Experiment 2 included 29 re-recruited participants from Experiment 1, also aged between 20 and 62. Results: Results indicate that performance is significantly worse on trains, attributed to increased processing time rather than error rates, alongside higher mental workload. Findings reveal that performance and mental workload improve in the flexible setting compared to both the single office and the train. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of adapting work environments to promote productivity and health among mobile knowledge workers, advocating for the tailored selection of tasks and consideration of individual employee needs when implementing mobile work strategies. These results underscore the importance of aligning work environments with task demands in mobile work contexts. Organizations should encourage the strategic selection of workspaces and tasks, while considering individual employee needs, to promote productivity and health among mobile knowledge workers.