Flexplace Work and Partnered Fathers’ Time in Housework and Childcare

Abstract

Prior studies that show no association between fathers’ work flexibility and their domestic contributions suffer from measurement limitations and/or the lack of nationally representative data. Using data on fathers in different-sex partnerships (n = 1,956) from the 2017–2018 American Time Use Survey Leave Module, we examine three indicators (use, frequency of use and reason for use) of working from home—a work–family benefit is known as flexplace—and consider whether partners’ employment status moderates the association between flexplace and fathers’ time in domestic labor. Fathers who use flexplace benefits report more routine childcare, regardless of the reason for flexplace use or their partners’ employment status. The association between flexplace use and fathers’ housework time is conditional on their partners’ employment status and fathers’ rationale for working from home.