Teleworkers spent 16 more minutes on housework and 71 more minutes with children compared to non-teleworkers
Statistics Canada has released new data from the 2022 Time Use Survey, including a study on how telework affects time use and well-being.
The pandemic significantly shifted working arrangements, notably increasing the prevalence of working from home. The percentage of Canadians working primarily from home rose from 7 percent in May 2016 to 24 percent in July 2022, then slightly declined to 21 percent in July 2023.
Statistics Canada has released various data and research on teleworking since the pandemic's onset, but this is the first study to examine teleworking and time use together in over a decade.
The study uses the survey's time diary to compare three groups of employees:
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Work-from-home (WFH) teleworkers, who worked at home on the reference day
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On-site teleworkers, who teleworked in the prior week but worked on-site on the reference day
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Non-teleworkers, who did not telework in the prior week and worked on-site on the reference day
The study highlights differences in time use and well-being among these groups, considering socioeconomic characteristics such as gender, age, job type, and usual work hours.
On average, teleworkers saved over an hour by not commuting on work-from-home days. Non-teleworkers and on-site teleworkers spent 63- and 74-minutes commuting, respectively.
However, paid work time did not vary with teleworking status after accounting for sociodemographic and job characteristics.
Teleworkers, who did not change their paid work time, reallocated their saved commute time to unpaid work, including housework and childcare. Working from home facilitated balancing paid and unpaid work demands.
On work-from-home days, teleworkers spent 16 more minutes, or 21 percent more time, on housework than non-teleworkers. This study confirms the gender gap in unpaid housework persists among both non-teleworkers and WFH teleworkers.
Additionally, parents who teleworked from home spent about 71 minutes more per day caring for their children compared to non-teleworking parents, with mothers spending 52 minutes more with children than fathers, regardless of teleworking status.
Teleworking at home was associated with more sleep, leisure activities, and different personal care routines. WFH teleworkers slept 23 minutes more than non-teleworkers and 19 minutes more than on-site teleworkers.
They also spent about 30 minutes more in leisure activities, including exercise and hobbies, compared to non-teleworkers and on-site teleworkers. However, WFH teleworkers spent 24 minutes less on personal care than non-teleworkers and 17 minutes less than on-site teleworkers.
WFH teleworkers reported higher satisfaction with work-life balance and felt less time pressure than both on-site teleworkers and non-teleworkers.
WFH teleworkers were 12 percentage points more likely than non-teleworkers and 14 percentage points more likely than on-site teleworkers to be satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance.
Surprisingly, on-site teleworkers reported the highest levels of time pressure, despite accounting for sociodemographic and job characteristics.
They were more likely to experience stress, cut back on sleep, and worry about spending insufficient time with family and friends compared to both WFH teleworkers and non-teleworkers. Alternating between workplace and home might contribute to increased time pressure due to decreased schedule stability.
Data collection for this survey spanned from July 2022 to July 2023, marking the seventh iteration since 1986. This survey is the first since the COVID-19 pandemic began to collect data on daily time use.
