Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2022, 58(4): 373-399 | DOI: 10.13060/csr.2022.024

Working from Home, Work-Family Conflicts and Partnership Quality during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Dominika Sladká, Martin Kreidl

Fakulta sociálních studií, Masarykova univerzita, Brno

During the Covid-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic, there was a sharp increase in the share of people working from home. It is predicted that working from home will continue to be a common form of work after the crisis. In this article, we investigate whether and how working frequently from home during the pandemic was associated with work-family conflict and how the strength of the association varied between different groups of people depending on gender, education, employment, and the presence of children in the household. We also examine what connection existed between role conflicts and the quality of a partnership. To answer these questions we analysed data from the 'Czech GGS Covid Pilot Study' from December 2020 and found that working frequently from home was associated with more frequent work-family conflict. Respondents experienced more problems performing their family role (e.g. they were too tired to do housework) than their role as an employee. As the intensity of work from home increased, however, respondents tended to report more frequent problems performing their role as an employee (e.g. family responsibilities made it difficult for them to concentrate on work). The association between working from home and work-family conflict differed significantly depending on the gender and the presence of children in the household. For men and parents of children under the age of 15, working from home was more significantly associated with work-family conflict. People who often experienced work-family conflict also more often considered breaking up with their partner. Working from home thus became a significant stressor for family life during the pandemics.

Keywords: working from home, Covid-19, Generations and Gender Survey, work-family conflict, partnership quality

Received: October 31, 2021; Revised: July 22, 2022; Accepted: July 26, 2022; Prepublished online: August 18, 2022; Published: September 12, 2022  Show citation