“A good night’s sleep!” How do remote workers juggle work and family during lockdown? Some answers from a French mixed-methods study

Abstract

AbstractThis study, based primarily on job demands–resources model in the context of recovery, uses a mixed methods approach to examine the role that some work and family demands and boundary management tactics play in explaining work-nonwork balance and some related constructs, while also accounting for gender inequalities. The research involved 553 remote workers during the first lockdown in France caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The results confirmed that a high number of work-related emails or phone calls outside of working hours and the constant presence of children at home were risk factors; conversely, good supervisor support was positively related to recovery experiences and negatively related to work-family conflict and insomnia. Women reported higher levels of insomnia symptoms and had more difficulty disengaging from work and restoring their energy than men. The use of effective tactics– planning, having your own space to work, coordinating with your partner - was made more difficult by workload, use of technology, demands at home, the size of the home and, for women, likely gender inequalities.