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The subjective well-being of homeworkers across life domains

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  • Darja Reuschke

Abstract

This paper extends the view of homeworking as a type of flexible working by employees in organisations aimed at improving work–life balance and job satisfaction, to a type of work that encapsulates significant changes of work towards increased self-employment and casual work, high proportions of which are performed in people’s homes. Such changes to work represent a reconfiguration of the spatial separation and relationship between place of work and place of residence. Through homeworking, this paper studies how changing geographies of work and workplaces impact on workers’ life satisfaction overall and across various aspects of their lives. Using a large representative longitudinal dataset for the United Kingdom, findings reveal that workers’ satisfaction with their job, income and leisure time is significantly shaped by homeworking and that the employment status (employee versus self-employed) and gender are important elements for understanding how homeworking is related to subjective well-being. Homeworking is positively related with leisure time satisfaction of men and women. Job satisfaction advances of homeworking are only observed for employees, but not the self-employed. Men’s income satisfaction is decreased when they work as self-employed without employees in their homes. Future policies and research concerning workers’ subjective well-being need to pay attention to the continued trend towards individualised work in people’s own homes.

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  • Darja Reuschke, 2019. "The subjective well-being of homeworkers across life domains," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(6), pages 1326-1349, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:51:y:2019:i:6:p:1326-1349
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X19842583
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    2. Crispin H. V. Cooper, 2020. "Quantitative Models of Well-Being to Inform Policy: Problems and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and Subjective Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 744, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Iva Durakovic & Laurie Aznavoorian & Christhina Candido, 2022. "Togetherness and (work)Place: Insights from Workers and Managers during Australian COVID-Induced Lockdowns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-31, December.
    5. Katerina Bockov�, 2021. "Home Office and Its Influence on Employee Motivation," GATR Journals jmmr272, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    6. Reuschke, Darja & Houston, Donald, 2020. "Revisiting the gender gap in commuting through self-employment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Paula Rodríguez-Modroño, 2021. "Non-standard work in unconventional workspaces: Self-employed women in home-based businesses and coworking spaces," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(11), pages 2258-2275, August.
    8. Inga Laß & Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Mark Wooden, 2023. "Working from home, COVID-19 and job satisfaction," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2023n04, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    9. Darja Reuschke & Carol Ekinsmyth, 2021. "New spatialities of work in the city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(11), pages 2177-2187, August.

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