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The ability and option to work from home has become a necessity for many in the Australian workforce, particularly since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Crawling out of bed and walking seconds to your computer to log in for the day, otherwise known as ‘telecommuting’, could have mental health benefits for some workers, a new study has found.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne analysed data from the annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics (HILDA) Survey from the years 2002 to 2023 to track the work and mental health of more than 16,000 workers.
The years 2020 and 2021 were not included in the study as people’s mental health could have been more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study’s centerpiece was an exploration into how working from home and commuting times impacted individuals, with a particular focus on the contrasting effects experienced by those with varying levels of mental health.
As for hybrid working, this had a major well-being boost for women, but only in particular situations.
When women spent some time on-site or in the office each week, and worked from home, the biggest mental health gains were noted.
Gains were comparable to those from a 15 per cent rise in household income.
Notably, for women who initially reported poorer mental health, the option of flexible work arrangements resulted in significant improvements in their mental well-being.
The study noted less work stress and helping women to juggle work and life were other benefits of working from home.
For men, working from home did not make a measurable effect on mental health, positive or negative.
The report mentioned that this could be due to the unequal division of domestic and caregiving responsibilities, which disproportionately fall on women and constrain their spatial mobility.
Workers with poorer mental health were found to be more sensitive to long commutes and most likely to benefit from flexible working arrangements.
For women commuting, there was no detectable effect. But for men, longer commutes equated to poorer mental health for those who already had issues.
For a man near the middle of the mental health distribution adding half an hour to his one-way commute reduced reported mental health by roughly the same amount as a 2 per cent drop in household income, the authors wrote.
For workers who don’t have problems with their mental health, commuting and working from home don’t have much of an impact on them. Yet they still may value flexibility, the study found.
