Workers seek flexibility as mandated return to office
Despite advances in technology and a growing desire for flexibility among American workers, employers are pushing for a return to the office.
scripps news
When technology executive Logan Maley returned to the office after giving birth to her first child in 2018, she had the ideal environment in place. Although she worked four days a week in a private office with a mini-fridge and blackout blinds so she could pump at her desk, she was still heartbroken to be away from her young daughter.
Then the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic occurred. She was able to have breakfast and lunch with her daughter and put her daughter to bed for a nap. She stopped missing out on so many firsts. And in addition to spending more quality time at home, Maley said she’s also been more productive and focused at work.
No longer torn between being a professional and being a parent, she and her husband decided it was the right time to have a second child. “We were both at home, so while the world was falling apart, we thought we’d do the same,” Maley said.
Researchers hear that sentiment so often that they decided to study it. They say the findings suggest a “positive relationship” between recent trends in remote and hybrid work schedules and having children.
Since the end of the baby boom in the early 1960s, Americans have had fewer and fewer babies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, the birth rate will drop to an all-time low in 2024, with each American woman expected to have an average of 1.6 babies.
But a new study by Stanford University and other institutions that analyzed data from 19,000 workers in 38 countries shows that the number of births in the U.S. increased by an additional 80,000 between 2021 and 2025, when the pandemic shuttered offices and ushered in a new era of remote and hybrid work.
Couples who work from home even one day a week are more likely to get pregnant and plan to have children in the future than those who commute to the office five days a week, a study found. Couples were still more likely to have children even when only one person worked from home.
“Flexibility, or lack of such flexibility, about when, where, and how to work is one potentially important factor in fertility decisions,” the study states.
“You can’t get pregnant through email.”
Nick Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor and co-author of the “Working from Home and Fertility” study, said giving people more flexibility and freedom during the pandemic has made it possible for couples to start families.
No more long commutes or rushing home for dinner. Parents were attending school pick-ups and soccer games. We now have more time to put the kids to bed, catch up on our own sleep schedule, and even exercise in some cases.
Bloom said her remote work schedule not only made it easier to care for her children, but it also made it easier to get pregnant. After all, “you can’t get pregnant over text,” he said.
Although she has no plans to expand her family, working remotely is now non-negotiable for Maylie. With my second child, I didn’t have to wash pump parts, and I didn’t have to stress about storing milk or remembering to bring it home after work. She secretly breastfed her son during a Zoom call.
“If I had to go to the office, I would be much less likely to have more children,” she said.
Bloom said the study raises important questions about the role flexible working arrangements can play in restoring fertility rates.
This is also not the first time that a link has been suggested between working from home and childbirth. A 2021 National Bureau of Economic Research study on the baby bump concluded that improving childcare and giving parents more flexibility to work from home “may be associated with higher future fertility rates.”
A 2023 study of 3,000 American women by economist Adam Ozimek and demographer Lyman Stone found that women who work remotely are more likely to say they plan to have children, especially if they’re more educated, wealthy, and older. Approximately 15-20% of women working remotely were trying to conceive, compared to only 10-14% of employed women without remote work options. Remote workers surveyed were also more likely to be married.
“We believe this evidence suggests that a ‘return to the office’ may contribute to fertility declines and that governments interested in implementing marriage support and prenatal policies may be interested in considering how they can support and encourage flexible work arrangements,” Ozimek and Stone write.
Did the birth rate drop after returning to public service?
As women wait longer to have children or postpone having children, many office workers, especially women, say flexible work schedules allow them to better balance work and caregiving responsibilities, the survey found. According to a FlexJobs survey, 80% of women cite flexibility as the biggest benefit of their job.
“I’m one of the only millennials I know who has had a baby IRL,” one person commented on Reddit. “It’s no coincidence that my partner and I have been working from home since 2020.”
“Now that I know I can work from home, I feel much better about having kids in the future,” another commented.
However, the research comes amid a wider crackdown on flexible working arrangements.
President Donald Trump has ordered federal employees to return to office full time. More companies, including Amazon and JPMorgan Chase, are following suit.
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwartzman said remote workers “weren’t working as hard” during the pandemic. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “People who work from home are inefficient.” Former Trump adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said working from home is “morally wrong.”
Bloom said remote work’s bad reputation contradicts President Trump’s policies encouraging Americans to have more children.
As the United States and other developed countries struggle with falling birth rates, concerns about an aging population are growing, raising concerns about a shrinking labor market and economic stagnation.
President Trump announced a plan in October to expand access to in vitro fertilization, and his administration has proposed a “baby bonus” that includes scholarships for married people and parents and a one-time cash bonus of $5,000 for mothers.
“What’s strange is that the current Trump-Vance administration is pushing to increase the birth rate, but they’re trying to eliminate telecommuting,” Bloom said. “A government that wants more Americans to have babies will embrace telecommuting. You can’t force couples to have children, but making it a lot easier would certainly help, and telecommuting definitely does that.”
So far, pro-natalist government policies have not brought about much change. Countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland have paid parental leave and subsidized child care, but birth rates remain low. Although Hungary has offered a number of incentives, including exempting women with four or more children from paying income tax, convincing people to have children remains difficult.
What’s hidden behind a baby’s bust?
The reasons Americans choose not to have children are hotly debated in academic circles, with many blaming America’s infant collapse on changing priorities and social norms.
When asked, couples give a variety of reasons. Marriage and childbirth delays are increasing, and the time to pregnancy is becoming shorter. They also blame rising costs for childcare, fertility treatment, housing and medical care.
Some say they no longer think they need children to lead a meaningful life, and instead would like to spend more time working or pursuing leisure. And recent research suggests that men’s unequal participation in childcare and household responsibilities is another factor in the decline in fertility.
Not everyone is convinced that remote or hybrid work schedules are an important factor in deciding whether to start a family. Some economists say people may simply be choosing to work from home because they want to have children.
“It is not inconceivable that increased telecommuting could affect birth rates. One of the challenges we face and that is likely to contribute to changes in birth rates is the difficulty in managing careers and personal lives,” said Wellesley economics professor Philip Levin. “Given the evidence currently available, it’s hard to say it’s having a significant impact.”
Many American workers now have more flexibility than before the pandemic. More than half will work in a hybrid role in 2025, and 28% will work fully remotely, up from 18% five years ago, according to Gallup data. But birth rates are still declining, Levine said.
Even if flexible working arrangements did not increase birth rates, they were still valuable because they could benefit families, he said. Approximately 45% of working Americans between the ages of 25 and 54 have children under the age of 17, making working parents an important part of the workforce.
“Not every positive intervention has to solve all of society’s problems,” Levine said.
