A new comprehensive study tracking the work and mental health of over 16,000 Australian employees over two decades suggests that the effects of remote work and commuting are strongly gendered. Researchers analyzing 20 years of data from the national Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey found that working from home (WFH) boosts women’s mental health significantly more than men’s.

The biggest mental health gains for women were recorded when they adopted a hybrid working model, primarily working from home while still spending one to two days in the office or on-site each week.

Women Thrive in Hybrid Settings

For women who already experienced poor mental health, this hybrid arrangement led to better mental health outcomes compared to working exclusively on-site. The improvements seen were comparable to those resulting from a substantial 15% rise in household income.

The analysis separated the effects of WFH from saved commuting time, confirming that the benefits for women went beyond simply avoiding the journey. Instead, the positive impact likely reflects other factors, such as better ability to juggle work and family life or reduced work stress. In contrast, light or occasional working from home had no clear effect on women’s mental health.

Commuting is Key for Men’s Wellbeing

For men, working from home—whether occasionally, mostly, or full-time—had no statistically reliable effect on mental health, either positive or negative. This finding may be linked to the gendered distribution of tasks in Australian households or the tendency for men’s social networks to be more work-based.

However, commuting proved to be a factor for men. Longer commutes were tied to poorer mental health for men who already had strained mental health. The effect, while modest, suggests a tangible impact: for a man near the median mental health distribution, adding half an hour to a one-way commute reduced reported mental health by roughly the same amount as a 2% drop in household income. For women, commuting time had no detectable effect on mental health.

Flexibility Critical for Vulnerable Workers

The study highlighted that workers with poorer mental health are the most sensitive to both long commutes and the most likely to benefit from substantial WFH arrangements. People who already have poor mental health have a more limited capacity to deal with stressful events, making workplace flexibility particularly vital.

Researchers recommend that employers avoid “one-size-fits-all return-to-office policies”. Instead, they should offer flexible working-from-home arrangements, especially for employees struggling with mental health. They also suggest that employers should treat commuting time as a factor in discussions about workload and wellbeing.

The analysis used survey data spanning from 2002 to 2023 but explicitly excluded the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021) to ensure mental health outcomes were not confounded by factors unrelated to remote work. The statistical models also accounted for major life events, such as moving jobs or the arrival of children.

Source: theconversation.com