Remote work ‘levels the playing field’ for women’s career advancement, report says

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Working from home certainly has its pros and cons. Sure, it’s great to ditch that long commute, throw your messy hair in a scrunchie, and wear your pajamas to a Zoom meeting. But you may also have to deal with your kids screaming from the other side of your home office door. With obvious pros and cons, the question remains: does remote work actually help women advance their careers? According to research by Care.com and Mother Honestly, the answer is a resounding yes. And it seems remote work is also benefiting caregivers.

Titled “The Modern Workplace Report,” the study polled responses from more than 1,000 care workers and 500 C-Suite-level executives or higher-level HR managers at companies that had at least 200 employees. The biggest takeaway is that both men and women agreed that remote work is beneficial for women.

“Given all the hardships mums have endured during the pandemic, in particular, we were particularly pleased to see that respondents believe remote work levels the playing field for women, 77% of men and of women agreeing that it has created a fairer situation. a playground for career advancement between the sexes,” wrote Blessing Adesiyan, founder of Mother Honestly, and Natalie Mayslich, president of Care.com, in the introduction to the study.

“The Modern Workplace Report” also contained promising insights from caregivers, who understand that one of the most valuable assets is time. Many parents and caregivers said they use the time they save on travel to spend on important personal relationships.

The study found that “88% of employees report saving more than 30 minutes a day by avoiding a commute to work when working remotely, while 67% save an hour or more. For caregivers, this time is well used: 73% use it to spend time with their child, 70% use it to spend time with their partner or spouse and 63% use it to sleep. »

“The Modern Workplace Report” also suggests that remote work positively affects the division of domestic labor. “Male and female caregivers report that the shift from off-ice to hybrid work had a fairly similar impact on their share of household chores,” the researchers said of their findings. “All spend more time caring, cleaning and cooking.” It’s also possible that working from home makes household chores more visible to both parties. “It is likely that remote work makes this domestic work more visible and gives men more opportunities to deal with it,” researchers said. Nearly 47% of male caregivers with a child under 15 said they spend more time on childcare since working from home, saving time for their wives or partners.

A new report has found that both men and women agree that working remotely is beneficial for women. Will Rodsawang/Moment/Getty Images

But not everyone is convinced of the benefits of working from home. In an editorial for the Washington Post Written by Sian Beilock, President of Barnard College at Columbia University, There are definitely missed opportunities when you miss time with colleagues. “What’s lost when you don’t meet colleagues in the elevator or when you can’t get to know someone over lunch?” writes Beilock. “If more men than women enter the office, they will benefit from the agreements and relationships that occur organically when colleagues come together.”

Martine Haas, professor at Wharton, wrote a play for the harvard business review which deals with the idea of ​​a “double disadvantage” that women may face when working remotely. “It is becoming clear that hybrid working arrangements often create power differentials between those in and out of the office, and there are good reasons to expect that people working remotely are likely to be disadvantaged, regardless of gender,” Haas wrote.

Ultimately, it’s certainly a good thing for women and parents to have more choices about when, how and where to work. Some moms may thrive at home with a laptop in one hand and a pacifier in the other, and others may need real water cooler time and physical separation from their space. domestic.

When it comes to work, what works best for each family seems like the right way to go.

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