Remote workers’ free associations with working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria: The interaction between children and gender

Abstract

Empirical evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic shows that women carried the major burden of additional housework in families. In a mixed-methods study, we investigate female and male remote workers’ experiences of working from home (WFH) during the pandemic. We used the free association technique to uncover remote workers’ representations about WFH (i.e., workers’ reflection of subjective experiences). Based on a sample of 283 Austrian remote workers cohabitating with their intimate partners our findings revealed that in line with traditional social roles, men and women in parent roles are likely to experience WFH differently: Mothers’ representations about WFH emphasize perceived incompatibility between the work and non-work sphere whereas fathers’ representations highlight work-family facilitation of WFH. However, gender differences were also prevalent for women and men without children: Women seem to particularly benefit from more concentration at home, whereas men consider WFH as more efficient, practical and leading to less work. Thus, our findings imply that gender affected perceptions of WFH during the pandemic independently from children, but children seemed to increase the existing burden, in particular for women. To conclude, WFH can generally be seen as an enabler to reduce work-life/family conflict for both women and men, but bears different challenges based on the contextual (family) situation.

The double-edged sword of online access to work tools outside work: The relationship with flexible working, work interrupting nonwork behaviors and job satisfaction

“…Unless otherwise stated, all items were presented on 7-point Likert scales ranging from strongly disagree ( 1 ) to strongly agree ( 7 ). Table 1 provides all the items and their factor loadings.…”

“…In order to capture OAWT, we developed a three-item scale (Cronbach's α = 0.81) assessing the frequency with which employees have access to their e-mails, work calendar, and work-related software/programs outside their work. Responses to the items ranged from never ( 1 ) to always ( 7 ). Although it is likely that most employees have OAWT either “never” or “always,” we opted for this answering format to have more information and capture varying access due to situations such as blocked e-mail access during specific times, lacking internet coverage at certain places, using a professional mobile internet device which is not used for private purposes, settings on the mobile phone, etc.…”

“…It captures employees' approach to demarcate their boundary between work and nonwork by assessing how often employees interrupt their nonwork behaviors due to work issues. Response options ranged from never ( 1 ) to always ( 7 ). For translating the items, we used Brislin's ( 67 ) back-translation method.…”

“…Empirical studies dealing with professional ICT usage either draw on qualitative research methods ( 34 , 49 , 50 ) or investigate the behavioral aspects of ICT-enabled work extension ( 1 , 4 , 13 , 21 ). But showing this behavior and responding to professional e-mails outside work, first, requires the structural condition to being able to access work.…”

“…With the spread of COVID-19, it was impressively visible how employees' online access to work tools outside work (OAWT; e.g., having access to e-mails or online calendar outside work) helped with the organization of work in numerous industries. Many employees had to work from home, which resulted in odd work hours and access to work outside work hours ( 1 ). However, ubiquitous access to work is also accompanied with negative side effects such as mental health deterioration, which was highly likely during the pandemic ( 2 , 3 ).…”