| Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, recently told employees in a pre-recorded video that if they didn't want to return to the office, "it's probably not going to work out for you at Amazon." With this remark Jassy joined the ranks of other big name CEOs who have called remote work "morally wrong" (Elon Musk), an "aberration" (David Solomon), claimed that it "doesn't work" (Jamie Dimon) and that "people who work from home are not efficient" (Mark Zuckerberg). These men may not have realized it, but many of the employees they characterize as immoral and aberrant are actually just working mothers. You're probably well aware by now that at the beginning of the pandemic, when schools and childcare centers closed, millions of women were shunted out of the workforce because they couldn't take care of their kids and work at the same time. But in 2021 and 2022, as children went back to in-person learning, an interesting thing happened: more women joined the labor force than ever before. By early 2023, 75% of American mothers were working at least part-time, more than before the pandemic. A big reason for that shift? The combination of in-person childcare and remote work.  Andy Jassy. Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg Not all jobs can be done remotely, of course—in fact, two of the most commonly held jobs by women, nurse and teacher, are mostly in-person—but for white-collar working mothers who mostly sat in front of a computer all day, the ability to work from home gave them newfound freedom and flexibility, the likes of which they'd never experienced before. According to the International Workplace Group (IWS), 53% of female office workers are also caregivers. Among those aged 35-44 that figure jumps to 64%. (The organization doesn't differentiate between those who care for children or another family member, such as an aging parent.) We all know how much work being a mother is; one study found it the equivalent of holding 2.5 full time jobs. The average commute time in the US is nearly an hour. By simply allowing working mothers to not commute, employers saved them an average of 20 hours a month, or an half a standard workweek. It's no surprise then that according to IWS, 80% of female office workers say that working remotely allows them to better balance their work and caregiving responsibilities and 72% of them say they'll look for a new job if their flexible- and remote-work options are taken away. But those options are being taken away. Companies are pushing for a return-to-office. As a result, according to Motherly's 2023 State of Motherhood report, 18% of working mothers in the U.S. left their jobs within the past year, with a lack of workplace flexibility cited as one of the top two reasons. (The other was that they couldn't find or afford childcare—but that's a subject for another time.) It follows then, that companies who've allowed employees to continue working from home are more likely to retain their female employees. A recent study by the workforce data company Revelio Labs found that when companies switched job positions from fully in-person to fully-remote they wound up hiring nearly 6% more women. In short, remote and hybrid work arrangements benefit working mothers. They're happier. Less stressed. They get more sleep. And they're less likely to quit. And those executives criticizing people who want to work from home? It's not a coincidence that most of them are men. -- Claire Suddath | 
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