Men benefit more from a shorter commute, women more from WFH

New research from the University of Melbourne has revealed the mental health impacts that commuting and working from home can have on workers.

For its research, The effects of commuting and working-from-home arrangements on mental health, University of Melbourne researchers Jan Kabatek, Ferdi Botha, Jordy Meekes, and Roger Wilkins analysed 20 years of data from the national Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to explore the psychological impacts of commuting and working from home.

Less commuting can positively impact men more

According to the data, men with strained mental health were found to be impacted more by a longer commute to work compared to women.

Its findings also revealed that when half an hour was added to the one-way commute to work for men – with average mental health – they experienced worsened mental health equivalent to a 2 per cent drop in household income.

The research found that the reliance that male employees have on cars for commuting to work may be behind the reduction in mental health outcomes – possibly inducing stress through associated cognitive load, the experiences of congestion, dangerous driving and road rage.

Who benefits from working from home?

Based on its findings, women with below-average mental health experienced positive impacts when they worked from home 50 per cent to 75 per cent of the time – with mental health benefits comparable to a rise of approximately 15 per cent in household income.

The findings suggested this was due to women having more caretaking responsibilities than men – with flexible arrangements potentially leading to less work stress and the ability to juggle work and family life.

Kabatek said: “Women are more likely to be the main carers in the household, and working from home can make combining work and home duties easier for them.”

Despite its benefits, the research revealed that women experienced a negligible positive impact from working only one day a week from home.

Kabatek said: “We are not talking about some token kind of concessions in terms of working from home.”

The study did not find positive or negative impacts of working from home for men.

“They will benefit indirectly by commuting less, but we are talking about relatively small improvements [in] their [mental health] outcomes,” Kabatek said.

Different people, different needs

These findings, Kabatek said, also reflect differing social friendship dynamics between the two genders, with men more likely to draw their primary social networks from work.

Kabatek noted that women’s social networks are much broader and diverse than men’s.

He added that working from home can benefit people with physical and mental disabilities, stressing that the welfare of employees should be a priority for HR departments amid the working-from-home debate.

“I don’t think that blanket arrangements will work. To be honest, fundamentally, this is kind of an individual basis situation. Not all the people will want to work from home [to the same degree],” Kabatek said.