What is it? Is working from home awesome or awful?
A number of studies on working from home have come out recently, many with headlines about how awful the WFH experience has been, particularly for working women with school-age kids and for Black women.
I am a working woman with school-age kids. I have enjoyed building a virtual-born company for the last 8 years. My question: do people dislike working from home in general, or is it working from home specifically during the COVID lockdown that rankles?
Channeling my inner data nerd, I looked at three opinion studies carried out this year in April, May, and July, and dug into longitudinal data collected by the US Census and US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In general, each opinion survey found that workers prefer working from home. However, there are challenges presented by WFH during the COVID lockdown, specifically with access to child care, food availability, and internet access. In addition, pandemic-induced social isolation is associated with declines in mental health for all workers.
Before COVID
Working from home is not new. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has been tracking WFH trends for 20 years. From 2003–2007, about 12% of full-time workers with a single job did some work at home on an average day. By 2018, this rose to about 30%. The 2018 BLS data, with a sample population of 144 thousand individuals, show clear differences in WFH rates by race and ethnicity (32% Asian, 26% White, 18% Black, 18% Hispanic), educational attainment level (High school diploma or less, 12%; some college, 20%; 4-year degree or more, 47%), and occupation (higher prevalence of WFH in professional, financial, and information services). WFH rates were similar across 25–64 age groups (26–32%), sex (25%), and public/private/government sectors (23–25%). Parents of kids aged 13–17 and under 13 were equally likely to be engaged in WFH (30%), with a slightly lower tendency for WFH among individuals with kids 18 or over or no kids (22%). Over 36% of workers reported having a flexible working schedule.
Impact of the COVID Lockdown: Opinion Surveys
Now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, over 80% of workers are working from home at least 1 day a week, with over 70% not going into an office at all. The opinion surveys all report about 70% satisfaction with the WFH experience, particularly with schedule flexibility and ability to concentrate and be creative.
The Global WFH Experience Survey, fielded in March and April as the US lockdown was starting, reported that workers had the technology and knowledge to work from home, and were better able to handle distractions and be more creative at home. Managers reported similar or better team productivity in WFH vs. office contexts. Most workers expressed a desire to maintain at least 1 WFH day after the COVID lockdown ends, with 40% wanting to WFH at least 3 days per week — across business type, age, and geographic region.
The Martec Survey, fielded in April during the first spike in COVID cases and the first phase of remote schooling, examined the emotional landscape of WFH employees. They reported 59% of workers having mental health issues, particularly with isolation. While stress level, focus, and productivity were suffering, WFH workers reported improvements in work-life balance and schedules.
The Qualtrics Survey, fielded in July as kids were out of school and many states had started phased re-opening, found that a majority of workers preferred WFH. This sentiment was more predominant among higher paid workers and men. Parents reported preferring WFH, even with limited daycare options.
Impact of the Lockdown: Longitudinal Studies
The BLS is a great place to go for trend data, but unfortunately their Time Use Survey was curtailed during the early stages of the COVID lockdown, from mid March to mid May. They should be releasing data tables later this year.
In the meantime, the US Census launched a Household Pulse Survey and collected data weekly from April through July from over 60 million households across the US. Heggeness and Fields provide a high-level summary of findings of the first 12 weeks, clearly showing disparities between mothers and fathers in loss of income, food security, and stress.
Also evident from the Census data are clear impacts of the lockdown on time spent on schooling and availability of Internet and computers to access schooling. During April and May, parents spent about 11–13 hours per week in teaching activities with their kids. This was fairly even by race and ethnicity, food security, and income level. As school let out, the numbers change, with parents spending between 3–6 hours per week on teaching activities in June and July. Black and Hispanic parents reported spending at least an hour more per week than White and Asian parents. Parents with lower incomes (<$75K) and those with food insecurity reported spending twice as much time with their kids on learning activities as parents with higher incomes and enough food on the table.
Looking at Internet access, over half of parents reported they always had an internet connection to support school activities, with a 10% higher rate of access for White and Asian households. About 1 in 5 food insecure households reported rare or no internet access.
What Questions Should We Be Asking?
It is critical to track mental health and worker satisfaction. It is as important to tie those sentiments to context. Why are people stressed out? Is it because they are working from home or is it because their kids don’t have access to school lunches? Is it because there is only space at the kitchen table for one person to work, when what is needed is space for parents and kids? Are people feeling isolated because they are working from home or because COVID has locked down all socialization opportunities for people, in and outside of work?
Understanding context helps direct action. Based on the survey findings, I would argue that workers enjoy working from home, and want to continue after lockdown ends. There are clear benefits for workers in terms of schedule flexibility, creativity, and physical health; for employers for productivity and costs; and also for the environment in terms of reduced use of cars to get to and from work.
Instead of decrying WFH, we must work together to do better on food security and Internet access to ensure equitable benefits. We need to be looking at how to better support mental health during the lockdown (and after!), creating opportunities for social interactions among workers and in communities even while managing social distancing protocols.
Employers are now working on plans to bring people back to the office. There is a lot of evidence to support creative approaches, whether you are starting a new business or rebuilding an existing company. Not everyone needs to come back to the office full time. The Global WFH Experience Survey indicates that most workers would prefer WFH 2–3 days a week, and managers report similar or better productivity for WFH employees. BLS data indicate different proclivities to WFH based on occupation — these trends can be emulated in post-lockdown plans. The office can be re-designed to support flexible spaces configured for specific types of work.
Get your Data Here
See for yourself! Dig into the data. Check out and validate the trends. Keep watching for releases from Census and BLS and corroborate with trends from opinion surveys. If you are interested in collaborating with me on analytics, or if you have other surveys to share, give me a shout.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey provides nationally representative estimates of how, where, and with whom Americans spend their time, and is the only federal survey providing data on the full range of nonmarket activities, from childcare to volunteering. The data files include information collected from over 210,000 time-use interviews conducted from 2003 to 2019. ATUS data files can be linked to data files from the Current Population Survey (CPS).
US Census. Household Pulse Survey, a new survey designed to capture household experiences during the COVID pandemic. Phase 1 collected weekly data from April 23, 2020 through July 21, 2020. Phase 2 started Aug 19. Sample panel of 60 million people 18 years and older in US households.
Qualtrics. Career Progression in the Pandemic. Fielded July 9–13, 2020, Sample panel of 1,051 salaried employees in the United States, at least 18 years of age and currently working or temporarily furloughed.
Martec. Working Remotely During COVID-19. Fielded April 2020. Sample panel of 1,214 US individuals across various industries, demographics, and seniority levels.
Global Workplace Analytics. Global Work-from-Home Experience Survey. Fielded March 30 — April 24, 2020. Sample panel of 2865 white-collar employees across various industries and countries (60% US). 88% working from home during pandemic, 31% WFH previously at least 1 day per week.
