‘Two jobs at once’: Mothers combine work and childcare in the home office (Leidos)
Two-thirds of Australians continued to work from home after pandemic restrictions were lifted last year, and changes to the way we work have left many mothers taking on a greater share of labour in the home.
Since the lockdowns of 2020 there has been a 25-percentage-point increase in working from home, data from the Australian Institute of Family Studies found, with 67 per cent of respondents working at home some or all of the time at the end of last year compared with 42 per cent pre-pandemic.
Of the more than 3600 people surveyed in November and December last year 29 per cent were always working at home, compared with 7 per cent at the start of 2020.
Lead researcher on the study Jennifer Baxter said many people liked the lack of commute and better balance of doing some work at home.
Half of parents found it difficult to combine work and childcare at home. Mothers working at home carried out more childcare and risked needing to do “two jobs at once” – which some did, without sacrificing productivity.
“For some people working at home has created challenges; it depends on what your caring responsibilities are, what support you have from a partner and whether or not they’re participating in the caring or home management,” said Dr Baxter.
“Working from home hasn’t necessarily improved things for women overall. There’s still a lot of work to be done combining work, care and other household work that is still largely falling to women.”
Among parents working at home, nearly one-quarter of mothers (23 per cent) were caring for children as well, compared with 15 per cent of fathers. Dr Baxter said fewer fathers were using their new flexibility to participate in childcare.
Professor Marian Baird, head of work and organisational studies at the University of Sydney, said the second instalment of the institue’s Families in Australia Survey: Towards COVID Normal study was consistent with other studies showing greater flexibility had added burden for mothers.
“Working from home has accentuated the gender division of labor in the home … mothers are taking the opportunity to de-stress a bit by not needing to commute, which is relieving them of the stress of early morning and extracurricular activities running around; they have more autonomy over their working hours but that has come at the cost of increasing the labour at home,” said Professor Baird, whose recent research revealed strong structural and cultural norms were still preventing many fathers from taking up flexibility to participate in childcare.
“Women have the flexibility [to work at home more] now and are using it, while men are reverting to traditional patterns and not using flexibility.”
Prue Gilbert, chief executive of the workplace gender equality consultancy Grace Papers, said the report showed mothers and others were working more flexibly but leaders needed to “accelerate gender equality” by ensuring workplace cultures permitted fathers to use flexibility.
In separate research, education advocate the Front Project found nearly one in three families it surveyed was using more than one type of childcare, cobbling together daycare or nannies and grandparents, and many said their choices were constrained by price and availability.
The research found more than two in five families had been forced to change their work arrangements to fit around the childcare they could find or afford.
Front Project chief executive Jane Hunt was surprised by the high proportion of families – nearly four in five – saying the expense of childcare was a barrier to starting or returning to work.
“We knew affordability was an issue, but we didn’t know it was that much of an issue,” she said.
Louisa Pontonio, who works in the defence technology industry, said before the pandemic she rarely worked from home other than if she had an appointment, but as flexibility was fostered by her employer, Leidos, she had begun working up to several days a week at home and noticed the option “really has given people that work-life balance”.
“It has changed everything; before you would spend an hour with your partner or family a day if you were a full-time worker getting to and from work; the lack of commute has been the biggest thing, you just don’t waste that time and are more productive in that time at home,” said Ms Pontonio.
She recently had a baby, Charlie, and has help from her mother, who minds him on her work from home days.
“You probably start work earlier and work a bit harder, longer hours, but you don’t feel like you are. You can come and go from the computer and get things done. I think its life-changing.”
You can learn more about our Featured Employer Leidos and their current flexible opportunities here.
This article was originally published in The Age. Click here for the full article.