Women are more likely to experience negative impact on work/life balance as a result of Covid pandemic, Aviva research finds.
The insurer's Thriving Through the Age of Ambiguity report was originally conducted among 5,000 UK employees in February last year, repeated in August 2020 and then again in March this year.
Aviva's report shows that more than one in three (35%) workers feel their work/life balance has improved during the pandemic, although, one in five (20%) have been negatively impacted, while a similar percentage (21%) report a negative impact on how they feel about their job.
Despite both men and women finding that boundaries between home life and work have become "increasingly blurred" throughout the pandemic (52%), the research found that women were more severely impacted in other ways.
According to the report, women are more likely to report a negative impact on their work/life balance (24% vs. 16% of men), are noticeably more concerned about the risk of work-related burnout (46% vs. 35% of men) and are more likely to feel life has become more challenging over the last six months (77% vs. 72% of men).
Furthermore, women are less likely to feel hard work entitles them to claim back "me" time during work hours (64% vs.72% of men), according to the research.
As employees throughout the UK are facing the prospect of returning to workplaces from 19 July onwards, Aviva warned that employers must "carefully examine how they bring people back into the workplace to avoid deepening the gender divide".
The insurer highlighted that women are more often placed in primary care roles for their children, while working parents are also put under increasing strain.
The report found that while more than half of men (52%) feel the most productive ‘hybrid' work arrangement for them would involve three or more days in the office, only 44% of women agree.
Meanwhile, more than two in three women (67%) feel complete flexibility around which hours they work during the day (aside from in person/virtual meetings) would make them more productive. Among men, 62% feel the same.
Overall, nearly seven in ten (69%) employees say flexible working will play a bigger role in future decisions about their job or career choices. Women are more likely than men (71% vs 67%) to say this is the case.
Debbie Bullock, wellbeing lead at Aviva, commented: "Employees will look for something in return to encourage [staff] back to the office, and employers must ensure offices become a destination for collaborating, mentoring and socialising to rebuild relationships.
"It is also vitally important that people are treated as individuals, rather than employers trying to impose a one-size-fits-all approach. The pandemic may have been a collective experience, but the impact has been fragmented in so many ways, with women especially facing particularly acute stresses from the blurring of lines between home and work.
"An always-on, ever-present culture is guaranteed to end with people's batteries depleted, and it is essential that employers recognise long-term productivity is only possible if you make space for wellbeing to flourish at work. Businesses who choose to plough on regardless will discover to their cost that if you can't make time for staff wellness, you will be forced to make time for illness and live with the repercussions."
