BERLIN, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Remote work is generally causing employees in Germany to increase their working hours but only women spend more time on childcare, according to a study published by the Hans Boeckler foundation on Tuesday.
Mothers, who are given the opportunity to work from home, increase their work by an additional hour per week while also spending an additional three hours on childcare.
Fathers, on the other hand, work an average of two hours longer per week but do not spend more time with their children, the study found.
"Neither mothers nor fathers gain leisure time with flexible work arrangements," said Yvonne Lott, gender and working time researcher at the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) and author of the study.
While flexible working conditions would help to reconcile work and family life, the study warned that the "classic distribution of roles" between women and men could even be strengthened.
German fathers with a completely independent work schedule were found to work four hours more per week but spent even less time on childcare than fathers who had a fixed working time, according to the study.
In order to promote gender equality and reduce the time burden on parents, the study calls for a number of policy measures such as the abolishment of the German tax splitting law for married couples, which "obviously promotes unequal distribution between partners".
In order to prevent self-exploitation, study author Lott questioned the idea that a long presence in the company is synonymous with high motivation and called for "clearer rules" to be created for remote work and self-determined working hours.
The German government is planning to introduce a law that will grant employees under certain conditions the right to work from home.
