Working from home leads to more family-oriented men

We examine how working from home (WFH) affects men's participation in childcare and housework and their attitudes toward family. Because WFH is an endogenous decision, we apply a first-difference instrumental variable estimator, taking the degree to which one can work from home, measured at the individual level, as the instrument. We find that WFH increases the time that men spend on household chores and with family, and the fraction of men who consider life more important than work. Although WFH decreases their commuting time, we find no evidence that it reduces working hours or self-perceived productivity.

Automated summary

Working from home increases men's involvement in household chores and family time, as well as shifting their priorities towards valuing life more than work. However, it does not reduce working hours or self-perceived productivity.