Career advancement prospects of home-based workers across Europe: a gender and family perspective

With the rise of remote work, understanding how it impacts careersis crucial for shaping equitable work environments. This articleaddresses a significant gap by examining the relationshipbetween work from home (WFH) and perceived careeradvancement prospects for over 28,000 employees from 27 EUMember States, with a particular focus on gender and familyperspectives. Multilevel modelling is used to analyse cross-sectional data of the European Working Conditions Survey. Thefindings indicate that employees report better career prospectswhen working remotely, but these perceptions vary based on theemployee’s gender and their family-related demands. Notably,the positive association between WFH and career prospects is notvisible for single parents and partnered mothers. The level ofgender equality and childcare policies in the country minimallyexplain the variance in reported career prospects for those whoWFH. The frequency of WFH appears unimportant, as both thosewho WFH often and sometimes report better career prospectsthan on-site workers. These results shed light on how gender andfamily-related obligations moderate perceptions of one’s abilityto advance at work and highlight the need for more nuancedpolicies and actions that consider these factors.