Adopting telework: The causal impact of working from home on subjective well‐being

Guillaume Gueguen and Claudia Senik ()
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Guillaume Gueguen: CEPREMAP - Centre pour la recherche économique et ses applications - ECO ENS-PSL - Département d'économie de l'ENS-PSL - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres
Claudia Senik: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, SU - Sorbonne Université

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Abstract: We study the impact of work from home (WFH) on subjective well‐being during the Covid period, where self‐selection of individuals into telework is ruled out, at least part of the time, by stay‐at‐home orders. We use a difference‐in‐differences approach with individual fixed effects and identify the specific impact of switching to telecommuting, separately from any other confounding factor. In particular, our identification strategy avoids the influence of interpersonal heterogeneity by exploiting the multiple entries into WFH, by the same individuals, at different times. On average over the period, switching to WFH, especially full‐time, worsens mental health. We also find a positive but imprecisely measured impact of part‐time WFH on life satisfaction. However, this hides a dynamic evolution, whereby the initial deterioration gives place to an adaptation process after a couple of months. We also uncover a particularly pronounced fall in subjective well‐being of women with children, especially in the first months; this could be associated with home‐schooling.

Date: 2023-12
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Published in British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2023, 61 (4), pp.832-868. ⟨10.1111/bjir.12761⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04192717

DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12761

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