Abstract

۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ Related literature and hypotheses

۳٫ Data and descriptive statistics

۴٫ Empirical strategy

۵٫ Estimation results

۶٫ Conclusions

References

Abstract

Purpose – It is analyzed whether working from home improves or impairs the job satisfaction and the work–life balance and under which conditions.
Design/methodology/approach – Blocks of influences on job satisfaction and work–life balance – personal traits, job characteristics, skills and employment properties – are estimated separately and in combination. To select the variables, the least angle regression is applied. The entropy balancing approach is used to determine causal effects. The study investigates whether imbalances are determined by private or job influences, whether firm-specific regulations and the selected control group affect the results and whether it only takes place during leisure time.
Findings – No clear effects of remote work on job satisfaction are revealed, but the impact on work–life balance is generally negative. If the imbalance is conditioned by private interests, this is not corroborated in contrast to job conditioned features. Employees working from home are happier than those who want to work at home, job satisfaction is higher and work–life balance is not worse under a strict contractual agreement than under a nonbinding commitment.
Originality/value – A wide range of personality traits, skills, employment properties and job characteristics are incorporated as determinants. The problem of causality is investigated. It is analyzed whether the use of alternative control and treatment groups leads to different results. The empirical investigation is based on new German data with three waves.

۱٫ Introduction

Working from home, also called remote work (RW), telecommuting, teleworking, homework, home office, mobile work, outwork and the flexible workplace, is a work arrangement, in which employees do not commute to their workplace in the company. Despite advances in technology during the last decade, working from home has grown only modestly. Interestingly only 12% of all employees in Germany work primarily or occasionally from home, although this practice would theoretically be possible for 30–۴۰% of the jobs (Brenke, 2016). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2019) reported that in 2018 almost 25% of wage and salary workers at least occasionally worked from a home office.

The increasing acceptance of working from home may be led by management, because reduced labor costs and increasing productivity and profitability are expected. This development Working from home office. The increasing acceptance of working from home may be led by management, because reduced labor costs and increasing productivity and profitability are expected. This development also relates to concerns over deteriorating work–life balance (WLB) and the potential of RW to help address this, but thus there is a lack of systematic evidence or consensus. Even within a single industry, practices vary considerably. Many employers still insist on compulsory presence at the workplace. Unions were reluctant to support RW in the past. For their part fearing that establishments would use an extension of RW to save costs and that the employees would have to work under precarious conditions. This attitude has partially changed. For example, on Labor Day 2018, the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) insisted on a legal claim on working from home in case it is not an impediment to the operation of the business. Since 2016, employers in the Netherlands have been obligated to check whether it is possible to allow RW if an employee expresses a preference for such work.