Mothers – working from home is a hell of a job

Mothers – working from home is a hell of a job - Women have long fought for flexibility, but a new study suggests mixing business with children just doesn't work. An American academic tells us what we already know – that working from home for anyone with caring responsibilities can be more trouble than it's worth. The study of homeworkers, by Professor Timothy Golden involved more than 300 teleworkers. Golden found that the stress and strain of dealing with domestic life had a detrimental effect on their ability to work, and vice versa.

This week we were told, at the launch of a report commissioned by the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, that only 2.9% of the working population in Britain works primarily from home and that to increase that number within the public sector would save the Treasury £15bn a year in rent and other expenses.

Because women are the main carers, whether of children or ill or elderly relatives, this is an issue that affects us disproportionately. Trying to ensure that someone is around for the kids to come home from school, and to organise trips to the doctors and dentist is a nightmare to juggle with a full-time job. I chose not to have children, but am a carer for a vulnerable adult. I understand the difficulties in being able to fully concentrate on the needs of others while doing your paid work.

Women have struggled for decades to be allowed to work in a more flexible way, but I have to confess to feeling resentment in the past when I have been expected to carry the shortfall for a colleague who is constantly missing deadlines because of yet another domestic disaster. But that resentment would disappear if I knew that those women were at home but actually working. And herein lies the problem: anyone who has ever tried to work from home when dependants are running around knows that you get about a fifth of it done and end up exhausted to boot.

Men working from home are unlikely to be doing telesales, sticking envelopes or taking in ironing, as many female homeworkers do. They are more likely to be middle-class professionals such as writers or web designers. Men have a tendency to shut the study door and tell the kids to keep the noise down and if there is any trouble, to "wait till your mother gets home".

There is no question that men working from home are afforded more respect than their female counterparts. It would be unlikely that dad would be interrupted by his partner to ask him what is for dinner. Women working from home are often thought to be earning "pin money" or only in part-time employment.

Working from home can also be unsafe for women. In 1998 Barclays bank, mindful of the significant increase in women setting up businesses from home, conducted a survey on homeworking women and found that two-thirds of women had clients who visited them, but only a third ensured that somebody else was there when clients called.

I choose not to work at home unless I absolutely have to. Because I have no need to dress or travel to the office, I have saved at least an hour, which I use to check Facebook, Twitter and the status of my Amazon orders. I then buckle down to work, but remember the crucially important documentary being broadcast that evening. Realise that there is only 13% of recording space left. Go wild, deleting all the rubbish before spending another 30 minutes sending apologetic emails to my partner for deleting the entire unwatched series of Downton Abbey. It is only 11am and I do not even have children to distract me. Mothers, do yourself a favour, find a garden shed or an office-share rather than working from home. At least then you will know when one job ends and another begins.

via: guardian