Berlin – In the Corona crisis, many people in the home office are heavily burdened between family and work. This is shown by a study by the Boston Consulting Group, for which 20,000 people in twelve countries were surveyed.

Employees in large companies who often work from home and look after children or other relatives at the same time often feel stressed and fear about their careers. Many employees with multiple workloads in the home office see themselves at a disadvantage compared to childless people and relatively often flirt with a job change. Many also said that their performance was down and that they were not getting enough help from their manager. On average, women find the situation more stressful than men. Around 30% of parents with children under the age of twelve stated that their productivity had suffered from the greater household and family responsibilities. 40% of men and 44% of women believed they were at a disadvantage compared to people without children. Many of the respondents stated that their manager had offered direct support – such as flexible or shorter working hours. But only 42% of the men and 35% of the women felt that their situation was understood.

The results are important for companies, because parents of young children are often managers at middle management level and companies should not lose such talent, according to the Boston consultants. Women are also often underrepresented in management positions anyway. “We risk reversing the modest advances in gender diversity,” the authors write. Especially since the situation will not change anytime soon: Home office or mixed work partly in the office and partly at home are a trend. (APA)