Women who work from home face greater gender inequality, the Economist reports

Home-based work, or at least new hybrid forms of work, seem likely to remain popular in the future. Businesses and employees use remote work to navigate COVID-19 lockdowns and the ensuing need for social distance; however, hybrid work is now becoming more popular among companies.

In an article from The Economist, the publication reports that moving to a hybrid mode of working can help companies diversify their recruitment pool since they can hire people wherever they are.

Hybrid modes of working increase employee satisfaction at a company. According to The Economist, companies with flexible schedules attract 30% more applications.

Interestingly, the trend appears to be even more pronounced for women, with data showing that 80% of women surveyed said that flexibility was a very important factor when deciding on a job. A strict work-from-office policy would cause mothers to give their notice twice as often as fathers.

It has been reported that all existing research and surveys indicate that women are more likely than men to work from home, which puts them at a disadvantage in terms of promotions and salary raises.

Gender inequality can be eliminated through home-based work. However, data indicates that remote work does not resolve gender issues, even when employers use equitable measures for the evaluation of workers.

Many companies have flexible work-from-home policies, but their work culture is predominantly in-person. Globally, 42% of supervisors forget to assign tasks to remote employees, and 67% believe remote employees are easily replaceable.

Women’s inclination toward remote work coupled with the bias in the workplace contributes to a work climate rife with gender inequality, according to The Economist.

Female employees are less likely to be promoted and receive salary raises because bosses prefer employees who work from offices. The report noted that, aside from promotions and salaries, virtual meetings pose a major obstacle to gender equality.

Despite the fact that women report being interrupted more frequently than men during in-person meetings, a survey of women in the workplace revealed that more than half said that they found it difficult to participate in meetings at all.

But the report pointed out that the culture at work is not the sole cause of a company’s problems. It is primarily because of women’s high rate of involvement in childcare and household duties that they prefer remote work.

Due to the relative infancy of large-scale remote work, it is challenging to assess its implications on gender inequality in the long run.

Some companies, however, are leading initiatives to limit virtual meetings until they are necessary to ensure gender equality, and as remote work becomes more widespread, companies will likely adapt their gender-equality policies to accommodate remote work.