Remote working: gender gap or just different preferences?

There is a long-seen gender inequality in the world of work, whereby women are more likely than men to complete childcare or household duties on top of paid work. This has become known as the 'second shift'. Research indicates that the increase in remote work during the pandemic exacerbated this inequality, with women shouldering the lion's share of the additional care and household duties. However, interestingly, it appears that the benefits of remote work have led to women preferring it at a higher rate than men.

In a recent study of 2100 people, 60% of women reported enjoying having more flexibility over their work schedules, allowing an increased ability to make time for work and family. Another study found that 19% of women said they never want to return to in-person work, compared to only 7% of men; while a recent LinkedIn survey found that women are 26% more likely than men to apply to work remotely. Other research found that women want to work from home 50% more than men among college graduates with young children.

While the pandemic has undoubtedly been tough on working women, it has also sparked some much-needed conversations around gender inequality in the workplace, caring responsibilities and overall balance between employees' work and home-life commitments.

Our New Ways of Working dataset (collected July 2022) offers clear support to the existing literature. We found that 72% of female respondents (versus 67% of male respondents) reported finding remote working a positive experience, and that female respondents scored the statement 'working from home is a necessity for me' 12% higher than males.

(Above) Average scores of male and female employees (out of 8) responding to the statement 'working from home is a necessity for me', along with the percentage of male and female employees reporting a positive experience of remote work.

When further exploring the differing experiences between working remotely and working in the office, some interesting patterns emerged. Overall, a preference was shown for office work when it comes to building effective working relationships with colleagues (Male: 7.0; Female: 6.4) and talking to colleagues about work-related concerns (Male: 7.0; Female: 6.2). Both males and females expressed this preference; however, there were significant differences indicating that male respondents felt more benefit to socialising in an office setting.

For female employees, our data showed that they felt significantly more able to be productive, engage with tasks and manage their workload effectively when working remotely, whilst their male counterparts reported no significant difference between office and remote working in these factors (see below).

(Above) Average scores of male and female employees (out of 8) responding to the statement 'working from home is a necessity for me', along with the percentage of male and female employees reporting a positive experience of remote work.

The enhanced perception of productivity among female respondents may be the result of a significantly greater sense of belonging (+9% in female employees compared to male employees; see below) when working remotely. This is supported by a vast literature highlighting how belonging is good for business. If employees feel like they belong, and they have their social requirements met, organisations reap the benefits – one study found high belonging was linked to an enormous 56% increase in job performance, 50% drop in turnover risk and 75% reduction in sick days. Belonging also boosts employees' sense of purpose within their role, a factor that is highly correlated with job performance, elevated levels of engagement and resilience during challenging times.

Our statistical models show that the best predictor for gender is how purposeful employees feel when working in the office. Here, our data illustrates that male employees feel 8% more purposeful in the office than their female counterparts (see below). This sense of purpose could be linked to the finding that female employees feel they are better able to engage in their tasks when working remotely, which contrasts with male employees who feel they're better engaged in the office.

(Above) Average scores of male and female employees (out of 8) reflecting on their sense of purpose when working in the office and sense of belonging when working remotely. Here we see a significant difference between male and female employees, whereby male employees felt their sense of purpose was significantly greater when working in the office, while female employees felt their sense of belonging was significantly greater when working remotely.

• Don’t enforce a remote work 'penalty'. As humans we are all subject to an innate bias toward those things that are close to us (proximity bias). This is even true when choosing who gets the next opportunity or promotion – Colleen Ammerman, the Director of Harvard Business School’s gender initiative, reiterates this by saying, 'There is a promotion penalty for people who work off-site'. As an organisation, being open to the idea of everyone partaking in remote work to some extent, limits the disadvantages for those who do it more regularly.
• Tweak performance reviews and line-manager meetings to ensure face-to-face time is not overvalued and all employees are treated in an equal manner. The new world of work in the broadest sense appears to be accepting the benefits of remote work, with organisations adapting their protocols accordingly, to give employees the autonomy to work in a way that works for them. However, with this shift also comes the necessary adaptation around equal and experience-based career opportunities.
• Recognise that leadership are a key factor in improving quality of life in the workplace (Spagnoli et al., 2021). Organisations need to make sure their leaders are aware of the unequivocal impact they have, not only on their teams but on the wider organisation. If leaders can make shifts to support a more sustainable work-life balance, whether this be through role-modelling their methods of recharging throughout the day, being open about caregiving responsibilities, or simply clocking off at a reasonable hour, employees will take note and begin to adopt the same habits.