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emote work has often been lauded as a “The greater flexibility that working from home
Rpotential solution to gender inequality, provides has empowered women to bridge
given its flexibility, however these findings much of the gender gap in the workplace.”
showcase that personal circumstances still says Dr. Zamani. “However, our findings
have an effect on women’s careers. show that there’s still a need for more shared
responsibilities in the family home if we are to
The research, conducted by Menghan Shen, achieve true equality in both work and family
student of MSc Information Management at life, as women currently are taking on a similar
the University of Sheffield, and Dr. Efpraxia burden in work, but a greater burden at home.”
Zamani, Associate Professor of Information
Systems at Durham University Business Remote work, the researchers highlight,
School, sought to understand the experiences can have both positive and negative effects
of both women and men who work remotely, on staff depending on both their personal
how they set boundaries and avoided conflict circumstances, and how their work is
between their work and personal lives. managed by their employers.
Their findings revealed that women were On the one hand, working fully remotely can
much more likely to see a blurring between the lead to alienation, and low self-confidence,
boundaries of work and family life – usually in leading to an ‘out of sight, out of mind’
the form of regular distractions during work – mentality. Whilst on the other hand, remote
often increasing the levels of stress for women work can help employees enhance their
and making them less productive. wellbeing, and achieve a better work-family
balance – if they also have adequate support.
Men, on the other hand, were more likely to
see the opposite with work very often being To achieve this, the researchers say that
totally separate from their family time. remote workers should receive access
to different tools and systems to manage
Interestingly, the researchers also found that boundaries in ways that support their
women were much more likely to value being performance and productivity. For example,
there for their family, even during work time, some remote workers may prefer more
whilst men were less likely to attend to their integrative strategies such as enabling flexible
family’s needs if these conflicted with their working patterns to accommodate personal
work schedule.
and family life and ensure work can be
However, the researchers warn these findings completed in the most effective way.
do not necessarily mean that remote work
is a negative experience, or inadvisable for
women.
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