The hidden pitfall of flexible work for women
Early Covid-19 lockdowns gave workers a taste of flexible work and demand for non-traditional arrangements has surged since.
But experts warn many of those chasing flexibility could get more than they bargain for, and women in particular are at risk.
Often hailed as a ‘‘win-win’’ for workers and businesses, flexible work comes in many forms, from job-sharing and flexible hours to hybrid and remote work.
Businesses can benefit from lower absenteeism and better job satisfaction, which can help with staff retention in a tight job market.
For workers, a flexible arrangement can reduce or eliminate the daily commute and increase opportunities for family time. And for women, flexibility can be key to keeping them in the workforce after having children.
However, research has highlighted a significant potential pitfall to flexible work.
In a report last month, Auckland University of Technology researchers said while flexible work arrangements were becoming more common across the board, women continued to carry much of the household load.
Even when both partners work from home, most of the childcare, housework and day-to-day management of the family fell to women, the report said.
Meanwhile, men consistently overestimated how much they contributed around the house.
‘‘It appears that fathers not only take on fewer domestic tasks, they are generally more satisfied with this arrangement than mothers are,’’ researchers in Fathers’ household and childcare involvement in New Zealand: A snapshot, determinants and consequences, wrote.
The findings mirrored those of a report by NZIER for ASB, in March. It found both men and women had a positive experience of working from home during lockdowns and said they had a better work-life balance, avoided commutes and saw cost benefits.
But women also reported picking up a significant portion of the lockdown burden, when many families were working from home and managing childcare and education there too. More than 50% of men said homeschooling was done mostly by their partners. Another 10% said it was done solely by a partner.
ASB chief executive Vittoria Shortt said the study made clear the difference between what men and women were expected to do around the house, particularly when children were at home.
‘‘With women still taking on responsibility for the bulk of domestic chores, the risk is that they are being disadvantaged both at work and in the home, trying to juggle two roles,’’ Shortt said.
Importantly, both studies found many men wanted to spend more time with their families, but financial and work constraints meant they weren’t able to.
Researcher Jess BerentsonShaw, of The Workshop, said employers may be able to help more than they realised.
‘‘There are lots of policies that could, for example, encourage men in heterosexual relationships to do the caring for children from when they are born.’’
The law gives fathers two weeks unpaid parental leave. Paid parental leave, which can be transferred from the primary caregiver, is paid at a low wage replacement rate and just over 1% of men take it.
Workplace policies such as more leave for both parents, more part-time roles at all levels and active reward for people who took time off to parent, such as counting caring work as a competency for leaders would help, Berentson-Shaw said.
Some businesses have already taken action. Energy company Contact and telecommunications giant Vodafone announced changes this month.
Contact’s scheme included a top-up of the primary carer’s paid parental leave entitlement to match their salary over the 26-week period and provide partners with four weeks paid parental leave, in addition to the two weeks unpaid leave provided by law.
In Vodafone’s case, primary carers would receive an additional 26 days of paid leave. Partners would also be given 26 days paid leave – up from 10 days – to be taken flexibly in the two years after birth.
Berentson-Shaw said a change in thinking was also needed.
‘‘We currently tend to think about care for children being women’s work. Until we address those mindsets about what ‘men are born to do’ and what ‘women are born to do’ alongside these policies it will be hard to shape change with policies alone.’’
Those mindsets were evident in the AUT study, which found mothers had much more direct responsibility for their children.
When babies were nine months old, 92% of mothers said they were directly responsible for their child most or all of the time. Fathers said they took direct responsibility 17% of the time. This rose slightly by age 2, to 23%.
The division of housework was also uneven, with fathers saying they spent an average of 10.24 hours on housework compared to women’s 17.49 hours. While women did most of the childcare and housework, 71% of men thought it was fair as opposed to just over half of women.
‘‘Part of that is within societal norms within the household allocation of activities, but it also probably speaks to the unseen load, the mental load or the unseen nature of some of that caring work,’’ Gail Pacheco, report co-author and AUT professor of economics, said.
‘‘Fathers also do work more, so that may be part of the reason they think it’s fair they’re doing less.’’