Working from Home and Work-Family Conflict Revisited: Longitudinal Evidence from Australia Pre- and Post-Pandemic

Inga Laß , The University of Melbourne
Mark Wooden, University of Melbourne

Objective: This paper investigates the association between working from home (WFH) and both work-to-family (WTFC) and family-to-work conflict (FTWC), and whether these associations changed following the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic saw a marked increase in the incidence of WFH in many countries, which many argue has been beneficial for families. Convincing evidence in support of this hypothesis, however, is scarce. Method: Panel data from 19 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (covering the period 2001 to 2021) are used to estimate fixed-effects regression models of both FTWC and WTFC where the explanatory variable of interest is the share of usual weekly work hours worked from home. The sample is restricted to working parents aged between 18 and 64 years (9,859 persons; 54,893 observations). Results: For both genders the level of WTFC declines with the proportion of time worked from home. By contrast, the association between WFH and FTWC differs between mothers and fathers, with FTWC higher for fathers but lower for mothers when working mostly from home. These associations mostly did not change during the pandemic. Conclusion: The study suggests that WFH is particularly beneficial for mothers’ reconciliation of work and family life but has ambivalent effects for fathers. This in turn may mean mothers will make greater use of WFH arrangements than fathers post pandemic.

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 Presented in Session 118. Work and Family