Bulti, Abdi, and Mattia Vacchiano. 2026. “Working from Home and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Social Interactions.” Community, Work & Family, 1–24. doi:10.1080/13668803.2026.2668685.

When we work from home, the physical space in which we do so plays a crucial role in shaping our well-being. Features such as natural light, workspace size, or having a dedicated room all matter. Yet there is another, often overlooked aspect: the home workspace is also where interactions unfold with household members and colleagues, through discussions, mentoring, interruptions, or monitoring, processes that can foster support but also generate conflict. We still know little about how home workspace characteristics intersect with these relational dynamics and, ultimately, with well-being. This paper helps fill that gap. Using data from 2834 teleworkers in four European countries, we find a direct positive effect of better-quality home workspaces on multiple dimensions of well-being (work-life balance, burnout, work engagement). Moreover, drawing on more than 18000 personal ties with colleagues and household members, we show that this effect is partly explained by relational processes: higher-quality workspace are associated with a lower rate of conflictual interactions, which in turn relates to higher well-being. By contrast, we do not find evidence that positive interactions and social support mediate this association. Overall, the paper demonstrates that the home workspace matters for well-being and that social relationships play a meaningful role in this link.