For stressed-out working parents, telecommuting seems like an intuitive solution to improving the juggle and reducing their time squeeze. But according to surprising research published in the Journal of Business and Psychology and reported recently on Life Inc., telecommuting may actually make matters worse for some parents with hectic lives.
The article by Linda Carroll explains that the very employees who may desire the flexibility to work remotely the most actually appear to suffer a higher risk of burnout when their wish is granted and they start working from home. Why? Carroll explains:
That’s because when job and family are in the same place, some workers feel there is no chance for downtime —no respite or time to relax, said Timothy Golden, an associate professor of management at the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
“A teleworker may feel conflict more because you’re being constantly reminded of your home role: whether it’s what you need to do as a parent or household chores,” Golden said. “And that can make exhaustion worse.”
The study surveyed the relatively modest number of 316 employees at a computer firm that allowed telecommuting, asking them to rate their level of job-family conflict and exhaustion. When the researchers crunched the numbers, they discovered that while those with low levels of work-life conflict got a ton out of working from home, those that were already finding the balancing act hard found it even more difficult when working remotely.
Besides telecommuting parents failing to set appropriate boundaries between work and home, another possible explanation for this increase in burnout among some parents who telecommute could be the mistaken belief that working from home is a good opportunity to cut back on child care. With additional family responsibilities and, in reality, the same amount of work as in the office, these parents could quickly reach the breaking point.
What do you think: Does the freedom to telecommute ever make the work-life juggle psychologically harder?
At Net:Work, we will explore the challenges of avoiding burnout and policing work-life boundaries. The event will be held in San Francisco on Dec. 8.
Image courtesy of Flickr use skeddy in NYC
#virtual events Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working pa… http://t.co/ZoO1M1Tr
#virtual events Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working pa… http://t.co/eiPIK8ML
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/wDLUdhu8
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/4GKvP5Ut #smallbiztech
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/LsP4xwCi #businessapps
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/afZpyXb8
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/FTxZ3nKW
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/uaYt4RxE
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/lJvHI42D
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/TlrLwdxX
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/GZQRotdu
#collabortion Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working pare… http://t.co/xLtBUgOp
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/3eLKwe7d
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/4l2q1v7P #productivity
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/PE2oueh2 #webdevfeeds
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/n9t4tPq6
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/Vzn8CdnS
Fburnr: Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed… http://t.co/Cv84HWi9
RT @WebWorkerDaily: Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/Vzn8CdnS
[DocDocc] Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/F79ZuNIk via gigaOM
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents… http://t.co/XB8ZWWgP #JobCircle
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/S5K6vZdo
While there are a lot of benefits to telecommuting, we must recognize the burdens as well: http://t.co/yfeHrRda
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/cxjQi2ji
Does the freedom to telecommute make work-life juggle psychologically harder?
RT@WebWorkerDaily: New study @ 1 comp. http://t.co/6YZ3wOVW
Surprise! – #Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, #study says http://t.co/ZMleYoSs
RT @ImmersiveCom: Surprise! – #Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, #study says http://t.co/ZMleYoSs
Agree as working mum with RT @ImmersiveCom #Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, #study says http://t.co/vqgUs9Db
Agree as working mum with RT @ImmersiveCom #Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, #study says http://t.co/vqgUs9Db
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/CiKMdv3H
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents study says … http://t.co/mnqtCSji
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/ptTOTUYx
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/K1lplEmJ
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/9bxHZqAW
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/lfRwG0rR
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: The article by Linda Carroll explains that … http://t.co/3CsTaTdk
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/hiwXlKaP
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/Cks0Q4IS
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/ClB0CEyK #parents #time #work
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/OUOKkopE
Ever thought of #coworking?> Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says – http://t.co/f4EQzyrv via @GigaOM
RT @bizperc: Ever thought of #coworking?> Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says – http://t.co/fyYEJZKM via…
RT @damangmedia: Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/nGQgG72b
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says #gigaom http://t.co/lo15zvSn
I can see that however I think to make it work you need a level of discipline to work from home. If you setup a process and keep to that your family members will respect when you are working and when you not the get out of the office. If interested here is a post to help make the transition to telecommuting http://damangmedia.com/telecommuting/
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says: For stressed-out working parents, telecommu… http://t.co/DS39YU1N
Appropriate boundaries needed ¦ Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents |
http://t.co/v4xDgBWh
#Telecommuting makes life worse for some working #parents, study says http://t.co/bMW7cy8J via @gigaom #worklifebalance
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/oMxN0kiL #Cmgr #Collaboration
Oh no! Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/su6I6PS7
Interesting and unexpected: Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/meFeISAA #yam
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/OUOKkopE
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents http://t.co/e72xjoLi
I find it interesting that the definition of telecommuting has been limited to just working from home.
Working from home (for me and many others) is not easy no matter what you do to establish work/family boundaries. Your 2-year-old son doesn’t understand this and will ask to be fed no matter what conference call you’re on. A pet doesn’t know these boundaries either. Even some spouses and adult neighbours won’t respect them.
Self-discipline also can be affected when all the comforts of home are a pyjama-clad stroll away. No wonder these surveyed professionals were so stressed!
Despite the amount of people who claim it’s not an issue, there are plenty who simply can’t work from home. So why Why limit “telecommuting” to home? There are plenty of options available: libraries, co-working spaces, coffee shops, borrowed office space near home or elsewhere, park bench, a friend or relative’s home (provided it’s empty during the day).
For telecommuting to be more widely accepted by management and executives (and defined as more than just working from home), among other challenges, they have to know and see that work will get done…and done well. That may not happen from a home office.
Sam Title
Chief Executive Cofficer
http://www.TheCoffice.biz
twitter.com/TheCoffice
facebook.com/TheCoffice
I just commented on “Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents”: http://t.co/Az5Dy47X via @gigaom
Worth reading. RT @thecoffice: I just commented on “Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents”: http://t.co/zvaGkN0V
Full time jobs, kids schedules to juggle….now this?? Not fair: http://t.co/xFMmW2ce
#Telecommuting makes life worse for some working #parents, study says http://t.co/7UoXdZZu #moms
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/Ezcr8kvH
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/oQhAtJ8L (via Instapaper)
Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/alflWgEU < danger of burnout & exhaustion
Sometimes remote work means a coffee shop or co-location space, not necessarily home.
http://www.remoteworkerdaily.com
RT @trieloff: Telecommuting makes life worse for some working parents, study says http://t.co/oQhAtJ8L (via Instapaper)
The article shares some interesting points on maintaining the work-life balance.
Thanks for sharing these useful insights!
Telework can mean working at a co-working space, not just working at home. I think we will see a lot more of that in the near future, and more co-working spaces with day care factored in.
I think that talking down things with your family and having a separate home office space can remedy this telecommuting burnout syndrome you wrote here. Of course, there are other options like going for co-working spaces, once in a while. It’s hard to stay focused from all the distractions around when you’re working at home, and like any other skills, it takes constant practice to master the art of discipline at work.
Considering #virtual work? Telecommuting not always the right choice for some parents: http://t.co/Ffm77JTx
The study from Timothy Golden using the employees from one organization and making blanket assumptions. Previously he did a study of the effects on telework in an organozation on the non-teleworkers AND his entire sample was from one organization.
Many of us in the telework industry seriously lack the credibility of of his work.