The unequal burdens of working from home

Eid lunches are a major occasion in my family, where we serve calorie heavy food and our apartment gets filled to the brim with guests. Unsurprisingly, the last two Eids were quiet affairs, with a handful of people visiting and the grand lunches being trimmed to basic offerings. The conversation inevitably turned to the pandemic, and the subsequent need to work from home, leading an uncle to comment that he never shirked his share of household chores. In fact, he boasted about how he would often wash his own dishes after he was done eating. If you haven't already guessed what happened next, I will spare you the sordid details and give you a gist; the women around the table set the record straight on what constituted as "helping with housework" and I would be lying if I said I didn't get in a few kicks myself.

With the beginning of the lockdown, most companies switched to work from home (WFH), allowing employees to fix their working hours and conducting majority of the work virtually. With some of its obvious benefits comes a few serious drawbacks, with most of it being centred around the loss of work life balance, rising mental health issues and skewed work life challenges for women.

Work-life balance is a myth

The response required to contain the spread of the virus has obliterated the boundaries that separated work from the rest of our lives. A 24/7 "always-on" culture has emerged from hyper-communication. Digital connectivity is at an all-time high, which is helping businesses adapt, circumvent and respond to the disruptions waged by Covid-19. But now, work meetings can take place at any time of the day without warning and instantaneous responses have become the expectation and the norm. A survey by Entrepreneur magazine showed that remote workers were likely to clock an additional 60 hours a month as a result of Covid-19 in USA.

A similar study was conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM) with the objective of understanding the impact of Covid-19 on the professional and personal lives of working women during the lockdown. An online survey was conducted on 222 working women throughout the country, from April 25 to May 10, using a structured questionnaire on Google forms.

In reply to the query of whether their personal lives were affected due to performing official duties from home, 45.5 percent provided positive responses and 54.5 percent replied negatively. However, while less than half the responders felt that they could strike the work-life balance, only 24.5 percent prefer the work from home option.

Accelerated connectivity, combined with the inability of managers to respect timings and threats of a shrinking economy, means that workers are unwilling to complain about the long hours in an effort to hold on to their jobs. But the bulldozing trend of hyper-communication can wreak havoc on our personal lives. Eventually, if we're not careful, it will compromise our productivity and subject us to information overload, constant distraction and burnout.

While employees can try to separate their work and personal life with WFH, it will ultimately depend how employers react to this crisis. With leadership and rigour, the promise of WFH can be realised. If the leaders want to make WFH work for everyone, they must ensure that line managers understand their colleagues' WFH arrangements and receive training on burnout, work stress, work/life balance and inclusion.

The psychological cost of a pandemic

During the early stages of the lockdown, the World Health Organization issued a statement that noted "elevated rates of stress or anxiety" in the general population, before warning that, "as new measures and impacts are introduced—especially quarantine and its effects on many people's usual activities, routines or livelihoods—levels of loneliness, depression, harmful alcohol and drug use, and self-harm or suicidal behaviour are also expected to rise."

The pandemic is likely to have both long and short-term implications for mental health and, particularly for groups likely at risk of new or exacerbated mental health struggles. An analysis by the Henry Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in the USA discovered that the psychological toll on health care providers during outbreaks caused psychological distress that can last up to three years after an outbreak.

According to KFF, another high-risk group facing potential long-term mental health impacts are those experiencing job loss and income insecurity. An analysis by Well Being Trust and the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in USA projects that based on the economic downturn, an additional 75,000 deaths due to suicide and alcohol or drug misuse may occur by 2029.

Experts around the world agree that the psychological fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic will be felt for some time. Will we hold our political leaders accountable when the coming economic crisis inevitably takes precedence over the psychological one? I suppose only time will tell.

But we can still act proactively to work on our mental health. When stress disturbs the brain, the rest of the body suffers. The good news is that exercise can help alleviate this cycle, as physical activity has a positive impact on the brain and lowers stress levels. Exercise has been shown to cut the tension, stabilise mood, improve sleep and even stimulate anti-anxiety effects. A healthy diet can also help counter the impact of daily stress by lowering blood pressure and fortifying the immune system, as can a simple smile—humour has a way of putting things in perspective, and offering a comfortable buffer between us and our worries.

Same old gender inequalities

Women have shouldered more childcare and housework responsibilities than men since long before the coronavirus era. But with schools closed, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated that disparity. Even with men pitching in more, women are scrambling to balance their work with household obligations.

A wealth of research suggests that flexible working may actually increase work/family conflict, because it is likely to lead to an expansion of work and increase the domestic burden on employees. A recurring finding is that women are more likely to carry out more domestic responsibilities while working flexibly, whereas men are more likely to prioritise and expand their work spheres.

Going back to the survey done by BIGM, the respondents were asked if they received any support with their household duties. Majority of the respondents (80 percent) acknowledged the support of their family members in performing various household activities such as child rearing, cooking, cleaning and disinfecting the house. However, only 27 percent of respondents are highly satisfied with the support of family members, and 3 percent said they are not satisfied at all.

Despite the mass entry of women into the workforce during the 20th century, the phenomenon of the "second shift" still exists. Across the world, women—including those with jobs—do more housework and have less leisure time than their male partners.

Working remotely has its perks. No daily commute in the morning, flexible work hours and no strict dress code (unless you have online meetings!), but it also has its disadvantages. It can be hard to stay motivated. You aren't working alongside your team and you don't have colleagues to interact with. But while the lockdown bites almost all, it's mostly women who are bearing the brunt. With our homes being our offices now, setting work life boundaries are a struggle. However, with the pandemic showing no signs of letting up, the best we can do is accept the new normal and start adapting to it accordingly.

Nasirra Ahsan is a private sector development consultant with the World Bank.