Caring flexibly? Working conditions and the supply of adult care

Although flexible employment policies can help employed individuals balance caregiving and paid work, limited evidence has been devoted to examining the effect of working flexibly on the supply of care to older adults. In this paper, we study the impact of flexible working conditions on the supply of informal adult care and mental health. We exploit variation from the 2014 expansion of the Right to Request Flexible Work (RRFW) to employees in the UK. Our findings point to a gendered response to increased employment flexibility. We document a 1.3-percentage-point increase in the likelihood that men provide informal care within the household, alongside less regular daytime work, greater control over working hours, and higher engagement in home production. In contrast, among potential female caregivers, we find that the reform reduced the probability of high-intensity caregiving, which is typically incompatible with employment or related activities. We document that the increased workplace flexibility not only encourages caregiving but also helps reduce gender disparities in unpaid care. We additionally find suggestive evidence of improved mental health outcomes, particularly among men.