Adult work-life balance was significantly affected by lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by two EU agencies.
The joint report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and Eurofound focused on non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on the work-life balance of EU adults in the 27 EU Member States between March 2020 and May 2022. Eurofound is an agency which studies living and working conditions in the EU.
These measures included stay-at-home orders and recommendations, closures of day-care, primary and secondary schools and national teleworking recommendations implemented in response to the pandemic. The new report is based on data in the ECDC-JRC Response Measures Database and on five rounds of responses to Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey.
The e-survey was a population-based online survey capturing the experience of living and working in Europe through the pandemic, with the aim of helping policymakers to bring about an equal recovery from the crisis.
During the pandemic, measures differed by country. The governments in the member states did not always know what measures to adopt as the pandemic evolved with new outbreaks of the virus. As the EU agencies appeared reluctant to issue specific advice, the member states relied on the best advice they could receive from their own scientific bodies.
The e-survey examined the impact of the pandemic on European citizens at different points in time, with questions ranging from life satisfaction, happiness and optimism, to health and levels of trust in institutions. Respondents were also asked about their work situation, their work–life balance and use of teleworking during the COVID-19 crisis. The e-survey was open to anyone aged 18 years and over with access to the internet.
The study does not explore the effectiveness of the measures in reducing the transmission of the virus and the pressure on the healthcare system. 21 member states implemented some form of national stay-at-home policy, either mandatory orders or recommendations or both at different times. All EU member states also implemented also some form of national educational institution closure.
Instead, the report analyses the data with regard to the impact of the measures on family groups. The main conclusion is that the correlation between the measures and the work-life balance of adults in the EU varied across specific groups. Individuals living with young children suffered more from the stay-at-home policies and school closures, while benefitting less from teleworking.
At the same time, people under the age of 35, those living without children, as well as people in the countryside and those living in northern EU countries perceived a positive impact from teleworking policies on their private-professional life balance, with limited or non-significant negative impacts.
The closure of educational facilities was thought to have a negative impact on families with children and some countries tried to keep them open as much as possible despite the risk of infections in schools and child-care. The study shows, however, that closures and teleworking reduced the pressure of work on personal and family life by decreasing working time and tiredness from work.
On the other hand, the stay-at-home policies as well as teleworking increased European adults’ propensity to worry about work outside of working hours and, in some instances, reduced their job concentration and dedicated working time due to family responsibilities.
Due to the cross-sectional design, the associations identified in the study do not imply direct causality. Nor does the study fully account for the economic impact of the pandemic, which is related to work-life balance.
Among the lessons learned, the report mentions that non-mandatory measures should be preferred to legally enforced orders when the effectiveness and adherence of the two different approaches are similar. Support should also be reinforced to affected population groups when implementing measures, to mitigate the negative impacts of some of the measures.
A previous report on the impact of COVID-19 on traditional gender divides showed how the switch to teleworking or flexible working arrangements are more likely to be adopted by women, risking a worsening of gender inequalities with increases in unpaid workload and lower visibility in the workplace.
The Brussels Times
