Work–Life Balance and Teleworking: Lessons Learned during the Pandemic on Gender Role Transformation and Self-Reported Well-Being

Abstract

Lockdown during COVID-19 forced the emergence of a new scenario, with men and women teleworkers spending all their time at home. The purpose of this study is to address whether this situation has triggered a transformation in gender roles and self-reported well-being, comparing the responses of male and female respondents to the EUROFOUND April to July 2020 survey. The analysis addresses cultural differences across European regions related to diverse gender regimes, employment status, and the possibility of teleworking. It explores male and female well-being through life satisfaction, the distance between happiness and life satisfaction, and rates their feelings about work–life balance. Findings on life satisfaction display a low transformation of social roles, with women still worrying about work–life balance, while men were more affected by the health crisis. Men self-report high life satisfaction across Europe compared to women, although unexpectedly, female freelancers in Northern and Southern European had a higher life satisfaction ratio than men. Both men and women teleworkers reported difficulties with managing work–life balance at home, despite women handling core care and household tasks. These findings suggest that women would have received more support from men, as they worked harder and longer hours during the lockdown, despite their weak position in the labor market. This would seem to be a propitious setting for men to have assumed more responsibility at home, resulting in a more equal distribution of roles at home.

Professional isolation and pandemic teleworkers’ satisfaction and commitment: The role of perceived organizational and supervisor support

“… Nguyen & Armoogum, 2021 ; Raišienė et al, 2020 ). The former's tendency to perceive telework as a potential strategy to balance work and family duties ( González Ramos & García-de-Diego, 2022 ), leads us to believe that traditional gender roles were enabled and perpetuated by the imposed telecommuting environment. Moreover, remote work experience pre-dating the pandemic seems to have had an influence on both satisfaction and commitment.…”

Psychological Distress and Work Engagement of Construction Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Differential Study by Sex

“…The effects of teleworking are an interesting example of the impact that the pandemic has had, with known negative effects on sleep, reported to be greater for women and young people [60]. Yet, there are also positive effects such as men taking on more responsibilities in the home, which leads to a more equal distribution of roles in the household [61]. It has been reported that the effects of developing PD from teleworking are less significant than those from exposure to infection by essential workers, because of the risk of transmitting the infection to the family when they return home [23].…”

Digital Stress. Effects of Different Intensities of Working From Home on Workers' Health

“…Some prior literature has examined how telework and various remote working arrangements relate to job quality, 4,5 work engagement, health, or well-being. 6,7 Other analyses have explored the impact of several frequencies of telework on job quality. 8,9 However, no studies to date have focused on the impact of different intensities of WFH on health, nor have they incorporated its interaction with gender, which is precisely the aim of this article.…”

“…Working from home has different connotations for women and men as a result of the gendered division of labor in the household. In fact, studies performed during the COVID-19 lockdowns show that the uneven distribution of the burden of childcare did not change significantly, which resulted in higher life satisfaction for men, as compared with women 7 . Finally, WFH entails higher ergonomic risks because working outside the employer's premises complicates risk assessment and the enforcement of occupational safety and health standards.…”

“…The question of whether WFH is beneficial or detrimental to health is multifaceted and complex. Some prior literature has examined how telework and various remote working arrangements relate to job quality, 4,5 work engagement, health, or well-being 6,7 . Other analyses have explored the impact of several frequencies of telework on job quality 8,9 .…”