Are you struggling to get staff back into the office? Workplace redesign, free breakfasts, and pizza parties not incentive enough? Is your bluff being called on pay cuts and terminations? Well, perhaps it’s time to appeal to your workers’ reproductive health. OK, bear with me.

A new study hypothesises that long stints of home working may have a detrimental effect on the quality of men’s sperm. Studying the donations of 6,700 Danish men between 2017 and 2022, British and Canadian researchers found sperm mobility declined 22% during the pandemic.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Professor Allan Pacey of the University of Manchester said there was no evidence that covid-19 was the cause; instead, changing behaviours could be to blame.

“Everybody’s sitting at home, not going to work, probably doing less exercise, watching more Netflix, or eating different stuff,” he said. “Pre-pandemic, I suspect people in Denmark commuted on a bike or on a train which involves walking. But if all you have got to do is get up from your bedroom and walk to your front room, then you know that the exercise level is less.”

This is not the first study to posit the risk of a more sedentary working environment on workers’ mental and physical health. According to a 2022 survey from health app Upright, for example, the average American takes just 16 steps from their bed to their workstation.

Employers should certainly consider any heightened risk of obesity or depression among isolated remote workers – especially if home working is found to undermine well-intentioned wellness and wellbeing programmes.

But given the weight of evidence that remote working can bring big health benefits, the latest study is unlikely to move the needle on the home-versus-office debate.

Unfortunately for employers, Professor Pacey says more research is needed before men start worrying about their fertility, meaning businesses will need to keep looking for that return-to-office magic bullet.