Working from Home and the Consequences for Labour Turnover and Career Progression

Abstract

In the wake of the rapid growth in working from home (WFH) there has been renewed interest in the impacts of this form of employment. One area of contention is job mobility and career progression. WFH is often argued to improve job satisfaction and thus enhance employee retention. In contrast, the lesser visibility of remote workers and the possible stigma associated with WFH might make them less likely to be promoted and more likely to be dismissed. This study tests these conflicting hypotheses using longitudinal data involving up to almost 150,000 observations on employees collected over a 21-year period from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. Fixed-effects regression models of five different outcomes are estimated. Strong results are mostly confined to those that work exclusively from home, more marked for subjective outcomes than objective outcomes and, in the case of objective outcomes, restricted to men. Among male employees, WFH all the time is associated with fewer quits but more dismissals. No such associations are found for females. Hybrid arrangements are also associated with a lower likelihood of promotion for men. These findings suggest that WFH may come at a career price, but only for men.

Keywords: working from home, telecommuting, labour turnover, job quits, promotions, dissmissals, Australia, HILDA Survey