Work from home and the motherhood penalty: what new research says

New research is revealing how work-from-home (WFH) and other remote work options impact the “motherhood penalty” – the persistent and measurable disadvantage women experience in the workplace after having children.

One study, “The Role of Working-From-Home for Maternal Employment Re-Entry after Childbirth”, looked at 10 years of employment records of women in the U.K., after the births of their first and second children.

It found that regular WFH use by mothers and their partners contributed to earlier and more full-time return to paid work, especially for second-time mothers.

Another recent paper, “Has the rise of work from home reduced the motherhood penalty in the labor market?” from the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that for every 10 percent increase of WFH workers in a given industry, the employment gap between mothers and other women in that field narrowed by just under a percentage point.  

“As long as companies allow workers to retain some of the benefits of periodic WFH, gains for working mothers can still be retained even as companies call workers back to the office,” that paper stated.

WFH also expands the definition of what is thought of as “family-friendly jobs” such as education or pharmacy, that study said.

WFH a double-edged sword for mothers

While Elizabeth Dhuey, professor of economics at the University of Toronto, agrees that WFH and more flexible work options can help with reducing the motherhood penalty, it’s not as simple as it seems.

“Allowing individuals to work from home, it speeds up their going back to work after having a child. Any amount of time that you're not out of the field or not employed … the more likely you're going to re-enter the field,” she says.

However, she adds, working remotely has consequences too, in the form of missed opportunities, promotions and other beneficial in-person interactions. For this reason employers should try to offer across-the-board hybrid or remote options where possible.

“If you just have an option to work from home, then it's most likely women who are going to be taking that option, which has a lot of negative consequences in terms of career growth,” she says.

“There's a stigma for choosing it … we know that being in the office, being seen, having the water cooler talk, actually is associated with future promotions and career growth. So if it's unequally distributed across the gender distribution, then there could be more inequities.”

In contrast, giving everyone on a team the same requirement of in-person or at home attendance levels the field, she says – “There's probably going to be a lot less issues in terms of getting promoted, all that kind of stuff that you end up having more opportunities to do when you are in person.”

Dhuey stresses that these are not just temporary setbacks – the motherhood penalty is a long-term reduction in lifetime earnings and advancement that follows a woman throughout her career.

“It adds up, depending on how many children you have compared to childless women, and it's a big amount,” Dhuey says, noting that according to Canadian research the penalty is about 5 to 7 percent per child.

“If you have two kids, it is about 10 percent less, and it's a very large issue. It follows you for the rest of your life. Even when your kids get older, you're still affected by this original hit to your income and your career trajectory.”

Source: "Child Penalties in Canada", Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press 

The motherhood penalty in Canada: all industries

Research demonstrates that the motherhood penalty is not isolated to a particular sector or demographic group. Rather, it is a widespread issue that affects women in a variety of industries and roles, from white-collar to blue-collar positions.

University of Toronto researchers found that even after returning to the workforce, mothers often face barriers to advancement and wage growth that are not experienced by fathers or childless women. Ten years after the birth of a first child, that research found, “Canadian women continue to earn less than they did before the birth of their first child and less than fathers, with the average penalty estimated at 34.3 percent.”

That study also pointed out that women who have low levels of education and/or multiple children are especially affected by the motherhood penalty, and that “This impoverishment triggered by the birth of the first child could have significant economic impacts should the couple separate.”

Dhuey admits that the causes for the persistence of the motherhood penalty aren’t heavily researched but can likely be attributed in part to employer perception, “That they're less likely to be hired and promoted, because they're not as competent or committed to their jobs.”

Navigating return-to-office and hybrid work

Recent policy shifts in Canada have seen both governments and private employers calling for a return to the office. Economist Dhuey predicts that return-to-office (RTO) mandates will continue in Canada as productivity will remain a top priority for employers and policy-makers. But she also urges employers to consider carefully before following suit.

“I think that employers need to be very attuned to their particular context. Just because everybody else is calling their workers back doesn't mean that it's necessarily the best case for your particular company,” Dhuey says.

“There are jobs that people seem to be doing just fine from work from home. I think what needs to be carefully monitored is the trajectory of people who are working from home versus not working from home, and making sure that if you're deciding to let individuals continue to work from home, that you're not going to not promote the women who are more likely to take you up on that.”

She adds that with AI becoming more of a presence in workplaces, many jobs that are traditionally more WFH friendly may disappear, being replaced by more team-based, in-person, less flexible roles.

“I think that there's not a clear answer to, ‘Should employers bring their workforce back five days a week, versus four days, versus three days?’” she Dhuey says.

“I think there needs to be some flexibility, and some trying to figure out what's best for which kinds of jobs, while trying to be fair to everybody, which is possibly hard, but we're moving that way. I think at some point we'll get closer to the optimal.”