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Working from home has become a standard feature of modern work life in Australia — but does it improve mental health, and for whom? A new long-term analysis of more than 16,000 Australian employees teases apart the effects of commuting and home-based work and shows clear, gendered differences in who benefits most.
Tracking two decades of work and wellbeing
Researchers used 20 years of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to follow more than 16,000 employees over time. Importantly, the study excluded the two pandemic years (2020–2021) to avoid conflating COVID-related shocks with the typical effects of working from home or commuting.
The strength of this analysis is its longitudinal design. By observing the same individuals across years, the team could link changes in mental health to changes in commuting time and work location, while statistically controlling for major life events such as job changes or childbirth. In other words, the models aim to isolate the mental health signals that come specifically from commuting patterns and work-from-home arrangements.
laptop-keyboard.avif" width="1200" height="675">Twenty years of data allowed researchers to track the work and mental health of more than 16,000 employees.
What the data revealed: different effects for men and women
The headline: working from home does not affect everyone equally. For women, hybrid work — where most work is done at home but one to two days are spent on-site — delivered the clearest mental health gains. Those gains were particularly large for women who entered the study with poorer mental health; for them, the hybrid arrangement improved wellbeing by an amount comparable to a 15% rise in household income.
Crucially, those benefits were not simply due to saving commute time. The statistical models accounted separately for commuting, meaning the mental health advantage of hybrid work reflects other positive factors: lower work stress, improved ability to manage family responsibilities, and greater control over the workday.
For men the pattern looked different. Longer commutes were associated with worse mental health — but mainly for men who already had strained mental health. The effect size was modest: adding 30 minutes to a one-way commute for a man near the median mental health level was roughly equivalent to a 2% drop in household income in terms of reported wellbeing. By contrast, working from home per se had no statistically reliable effect for men, whether they worked mostly on-site, largely at home, or in a hybrid model.
Why might hybrid work help women more?
There are several plausible social and behavioral explanations. In many Australian households, women still carry a disproportionate share of routine caregiving and domestic tasks. Hybrid work can reduce friction between paid employment and these responsibilities, producing measurable relief for mental health. Women may also experience reduced workplace stress when able to structure their day around family or health needs.
Men’s social networks, on average, are still more oriented around the workplace. That could blunt the mental health benefits of home-based work for men — if office time contributes not only to productivity but to social connection.
Full-time home work versus occasional remote days
The study found no robust mental health gains from light or occasional home working for women, and the evidence for full-time home working was inconclusive — partly because fewer women in the sample worked exclusively from home. This suggests the optimal arrangement for many may be a balance: enough time at home to reduce stressors and manage life demands, but still some on-site days for social contact, collaboration and separation between work and home roles.
Who is most sensitive to commuting and remote work?
One consistent finding is that workers with poorer baseline mental health are the most sensitive to both long commutes and to the location of work. Reduced commuting can provide meaningful relief for men with strained mental health, while hybrid working appears to be a significant wellbeing lever for women in the same group. Workers with stronger mental health still appreciate flexibility, but the choice of work location has smaller measurable effects on their wellbeing.
Practical implications for employers and policymakers
- Employers: Treat flexibility as a health policy, not just a perk. Hybrid models that combine remote and on-site time seem to deliver the biggest mental health returns for many female employees. Incorporate commuting time into workload and wellbeing discussions, and avoid blanket return-to-office mandates.
- Workers: Pay attention to your own patterns. If you struggle with mental health, prioritize the environment where you concentrate best and schedule demanding tasks accordingly. Hybrid arrangements can be a strategic tool, not just a convenience.
- Policymakers: Invest in transport capacity and congestion reduction, and strengthen frameworks that enable flexible work. Public health outcomes improve when commuting stress and access to mental health services are part of urban policy decisions.
Expert Insight
"Longitudinal data like HILDA give us the rare ability to track individual wellbeing over time, rather than relying on snapshots," says Dr. Emily Carter, occupational health researcher and workplace wellbeing consultant. "What stands out is heterogeneity: one-size-fits-all policies miss the people who gain the most. For some workers, especially women juggling multiple roles, hybrid work can be transformative."
Dr. Carter adds that complementary measures — good managerial training, clear role expectations, and access to mental health support — amplify the benefits of flexible arrangements.
What to watch next
Future research should explore whether these patterns hold across sectors and cultures, and how changes in transport infrastructure alter the balance between commuting stress and home-based work. Understanding the mechanisms — whether reduced role conflict, lower exposure to workplace stressors, or increased schedule control — will help employers and cities design policies that boost population mental health.
In short: flexibility matters, and it matters differently for different people. Employers and governments that recognise those nuances can better support employee wellbeing while maintaining productivity.
Source: sciencealert
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