The working from home conundrum
Dear friends,
Last week, the NSW government joined the ranks of other major Australian employers seeking to have staff return to the office in a greater capacity. The move, which affects some 450,000 public servants, bucks the COVID-era trend that has seen the number of people working from home double in the past five years.
With more than a third (37%) of Australians now working from home in some capacity, it’s left many workplaces wondering how to build cohesion and collaboration while meeting the needs of staff who require flexibility.
The problem is there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. And, for women in particular, there are pros and cons for either arrangement.
Women are more likely than men to request flexible work as they carry the lion’s share of family and caring responsibilities. The option of working from home can be the critical link enabling them to access meaningful work, and with it economic security and personal fulfilment.
But, working from home has downsides too, which also disproportionately impact women.
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Research in the US has found people working remotely are 31 percent less likely to be promoted. They’re also less likely to receive mentorship opportunities, with data showing women miss out the most. Both impact the pipeline to leadership roles that are critical to addressing gender inequity at work and that stubborn pay gap.
The working from home conundrum is likely to be a constant in every workplace as it seeks to meet the evolving needs of business and employees alike. The trick is ensuring that whatever arrangements are in place, women aren’t unfairly impacted by them and that all genders have equal access to paid work, promotions and pathways to leadership.
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4moOther impacts of working from home that are often not mention are loneliness and fitness.
Neurosparkly Entrepreneur | Speaker + Facilitator | Founder The Zest Collective | DEI Strategist + Ally
4moI think we should be beyond this binary working in the office vs WFH discussion by now. Yes there are benefits to both, and to be honest most staff working flexibly (in my experience) do both - they have a presence in the office for connection and opportunities that come with being in the building, but also work from home for a huge range of reasons, including accessibility requirements and the ability to focus better outside of the open plan workspace. The directive for all staff to get back to the office is an issue IF it's implemented in the oversimplified way being discussed. The reality in public service is that roles vary greatly from department to department and many employees were recruited on the basis that there would be some WFH. Many managers aren't even in the same city as their teams, teams are split across locations and need to do much of their work virtually. I suspect the implementation will be far more nuanced than the announcement was.
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4moGiven that this article cites a move by the NSW government it would be great to understand what the research in NSW says rather than in the US. We cannot make a direct comparison to what is happening in the US to what is happening in NSW given that our lifestyles, incomes etc are so different.
Student at University of Houston
4moI understand that women need to take care of children having more time directed for conception and breastfeeding. Still, their husbands can work at home to give more support for their wives and children during such challenging times so they are equally at home while working. As for the issue of those who work at home have less chances of being promoted, my suggestion is that promoters have defined periods to check the work of those working in the laboral environment and another for those at home via zoom or other so that there are not inequality of evaluation.
Founder & Director @ The Wild Ones Agency | Marketing, Media Communications
4moI think it’s reactive, unthoughtful and damaging long-term to the quality of talent the NSW Gov will be able to attract. Surely there are more intelligent ways to bolster the economy in cities than to penalise their own staff by bringing back non-data backed inflexible working which will hurt women and families, with more time apart and larger childcare fees and probably several other reasons that I can’t think of, it’s also a juggle and a change of work life that some may never had to do if they’re new to the workforce since Covid. Let’s see how it pans out for them. And not to be too reductive but of course a man, Chris Minns, brought this in.