Working from Home and Work-Life Balance: Variation Across European Societies During the Covid-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 5: Well-being and Work

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic brought about major increases in the prevalence of working from home, and as the crisis receded, the rate of remote work remained well above pre-pandemic levels. There is evidence that the demand to work from home exceeds employers’ willingness to allow it, indicating that this alternative work arrangement is an amenity. Previous research has identified some of the benefits of working from home, but also some of its disadvantages. Country-specific factors, such as labor regulations and social policies, may impact advantages and disadvantages of the homeworking experience. This paper examines the effects of working from home on (a) time spent on housework and care work and (b) various indicators of work-life balance. We analyze this relationship, controlling for workers’ characteristics (age, gender, family structure, and education) and job characteristics (work hours, occupation, industry, and sector), as well as welfare regime type. The analysis draws on both Wave 10 of the European Social Survey (ESS) across 31 countries and the 2021 wave of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) across 36 countries. We find that working from home, especially full-time, is associated with more time spent in housework and care work, with feeling that work does not interfere with family, and with feeling less tired after work. Thus, work is more easily reconciled with family responsibilities. At the same time, family life does intrude on homeworkers’ work. Those working at home, especially if it is only part of the time, report their family is fed up with their job, they find it more difficult to concentrate on their work, and worry more about work when they are at home, compared to fully on-site workers. Compared to fully on-site workers, homeworkers in more gender-traditional European countries, especially in the Mediterranean south, experience greater work-family conflict than in liberal and Nordic welfare states. Although women do more housework and care work, as expected, homeworking does not increase work-life conflict for women more than for men. Our findings resonate with other studies of “flexible” or “alternative” work arrangements that find tradeoffs between the spheres of work and personal life.

Authors

• Christel Kesler, Colby College

• Hilary Silver, George Washington University