[Real Beat] Does Working from Home Help Working Moms? The 'Dilemma' Behind It

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is a shortened form of 'Jung Hyunjin's Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment that showcases trends in changes in work.

At the global automotive group Stellantis, the proportion of women in senior positions reached 27% as of the end of last year, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to a year earlier. Currently, among the 14 brands under Stellantis, four brands including Peugeot and Chrysler have female Chief Executive Officers (CEOs).

Xavier Chero, Chief People Officer (CPO) of Stellantis, recently stated in an interview with Bloomberg that remote work and hybrid work (a combination of office attendance and remote work) have helped increase the number of women in senior positions. In fact, Stellantis permanently allowed some employees to work remotely up to 70% of their working hours starting October last year. Chero CPO hopes that the proportion of women in senior positions will increase to 30% by 2025.

However, is remote and hybrid work truly the best solution to help working mothers advance to senior positions and improve the status of women in the workplace?

It is true that since COVID-19, new work styles are preferred more by female employees than male employees. According to data released by global polling firm Gallup on March 8th in celebration of International Women's Day, 79% of women prefer remote or hybrid work compared to 64% of men, showing a gap of over 10 percentage points. There is also analysis suggesting that remote work increases birth rates. The U.S. Demographic and Family Survey (DIFS) surveyed about 3,000 women and found that women who work remotely at least part of the time are over 10 percentage points more likely to have children than women who go to the office every day.

However, flexible work arrangements have actually led to a sharp increase in women's household labor. A study conducted by faculty at Ohio State University analyzed the impact of remote work on housework by surveying 230 couples over two weeks in China in 2020 and South Korea in 2021. The study found that when both spouses work remotely simultaneously, men do less housework compared to when they commute to the office, while women tend to do more housework when given time flexibility.

Working mothers who juggle childcare and work are easily exposed to burnout. According to a workplace women report released last October by global consulting firm McKinsey and nonprofit organization Lean In, the gap between the proportion of women and men reporting burnout widened to 7 percentage points in 2021 from 4 percentage points in 2020. One working mother’s comment, "Even if the company tells me to work remotely, I rush out with my bag before my child opens their eyes," reflects the immediate reality.

If remote work is concentrated on women, there is a risk it could become a new form of 'glass ceiling.' Frequent remote work may cause difficulties in internal networking and potentially affect promotions. A 2015 study conducted in China found that the promotion rate for remote workers was on average 50% lower. The flexible work environment introduced to address immediate childcare and household needs for working mothers could inadvertently become a structural barrier blocking their advancement.

Our government, which is reviewing various low birthrate countermeasures including the introduction of childcare remote work, should carefully consider the pros and cons of remote work. Careful policy implementation based on a more detailed and broad understanding of female workers is necessary.