Spillover and crossover effects of working time demands on work-life balance satisfaction among dual-earner couples: the mediating role of work-family conflict.

To examine the spillover and crossover effects of working time demands (specifically, work contact in leisure time, evening work, and long work hours) on satisfaction with work-life balance among dual-earner couples, path analyses were conducted using data from the 2017/2018 German Family Panel (pairfam; N = 1,053 dual-earner couples). Working time demands were measured based on (a) answering work emails/phone calls in leisure time, (b) evening work, and (c) weekly work hours. High working time demands impaired workers' work-life balance satisfaction due to higher levels of work-life conflict. They indirectly affected partners' work-life balance satisfaction through two pathways: (a) workers' and partners' work-life conflict and (b) workers' work-life conflict and work-life balance satisfaction. These findings indicate that high working time demands negatively impact the work-life balance satisfaction of workers and their partners because of work-life conflict experienced either by the workers only or by both partners. In an increasingly digitalized labor market, measures are needed to reduce working time demands-and thus work-life conflict-for workers and their partners.

Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed gender- and parental-status-specific differences in working from home? Panel evidence from Germany.

Has COVID-19 changed gender- and parental-status-specific differences in working from home? To answer this question, we used data from the Institute for Employment Research High-Frequency Online Personal Panel collected in Germany in the early stages of the pandemic (May-August 2020). Regression analyses revealed changes in pre-pandemic gender- and parental-status-specific differences in remote working-not only when strict social distancing measures were in place, but also after they were lifted: Fathers were no longer more likely than childless men and women to work remotely, and women were no longer more likely than men to work more hours from home when using this arrangement. Further, the results suggest that cultural barriers in organizations to working from home-which were especially prevalent for mothers before the pandemic-have decreased.