Working from home more challenging for women

Ōtepoti - More than 60 percent of people surveyed said working from home during lockdowns was a positive experience, but there are pros and cons to working remotely that need to be managed.

When it comes to juggling home working with care responsibilities, women are more likely to do all or most of the housework and childcare.

Women were less likely than men to report having the ideal equipment and space to work from home.

Men in management roles are more likely than women to prefer their employees to be in the office.

Working from home has become the norm for many New Zealanders over the past two years, according to an ASB and New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) survey.

It found while there are many benefits of working from home, unequal sharing of household responsibilities means the experience is different, and often more challenging, for women.

The report shows before covid, organisations were already shifting towards remote working or a hybrid blend of working from home and in the office and this was accelerated by the pandemic.

Twenty percent of Kiwis can now work from home as often as they like and nearly half of respondents said the ability to work from home was important, very important or essential to them.

The majority of respondents had an overall positive experience of working from home during lockdowns. A total of 61 percent said they had a positive or very positive experience, agreeing the ability to achieve a better work / life balance, avoiding long commutes and overall cost-effectiveness were major benefits of working from home.

The report also pointed to increasing recognition that flexible working arrangements, from remote working to shorter work weeks, did not have the negative productivity impacts that may have caused employer resistance in the past.

Of those who prefer to work from home around half of workers reported they are more effective at home than in the office.

While in agreement on the benefits of remote working, the experience is different for women and men, particularly when it comes to childcare and their work environment.

Women were significantly more likely to report doing most or all of the childcare and home-schooling during lockdowns.

Covid has created a challenge for families, with parents required to home school their children during lockdowns on top of their normal work life which is an unrealistic expectation.