DISCUSSION PAPER - EXPLORING THE GENDER DIMENSION OF TELEWORK: IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL

DISCUSSION PAPER EXPLORING THE GENDER DIMENSION OF TELEWORK: IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH 1 Introduction The massive shift to telework during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the extension of hybrid work arrangements (which combine telework and onsite work), in post-pandemic times has led to increasing interest in telework and its impact on workers’ wellbeing and health. [...] With the extension of telework through hybrid arrangements, it is now widely acknowledged that working from home entails higher physical risks that on-site work, because of poorer ergonomic conditions of the workstation, which is in addition worsened by the increased complexity of performing the risk assessment and the enforcement of OSH standards by the employer, the workers’ representatives or s. [...] The tables below compare exposure to psychosocial risk factors and health issues between teleworkers and office workers, broken down by gender and showing the gender gap (difference in percentage points between the share of women and the share of men). [...] Beyond the specific topic of OSH, the reforms developed in some of these countries have addressed at least two dimensions that are related to OSH risks prevention or can prevent gender inequalities in terms of discrimination or inequalities in the access to telework and the labour market, namely the right to disconnect and the right to request telework. [...] 5.2 The gender dimension of the right to disconnect The right to disconnect aims to prevent the expansion of working hours and the intrusion of professional life into the private sphere, therefore addressing important psychosocial risk factors (Eurofound, 2022c).