research on telecommuting is out by a swedish company who relocated offices and allowed people to telecommute for 3 days each week. the company was particularily interested in the work/life balance of its new teleworking employees.

turns out there wasn’t much difference on work/life balance between those telecommuting and those who always worked in the office. BUT they discovered a gender difference. guys who worked at home part of the time reported LESS work/personal life overlap than guys who worked at the office. i wonder if this could be contributed to less ‘social’ activities since they were out of the office (ie no pressure to have a beer after work by co-workers). women who telecommuted reported MORE work/personal life overlap (insert women multi task better joke here). article (subscription needed) and summary

cite:
Hartig, T. Kylin, C. & Johansson, G. (2007). The telework tradeoff: Stress mitigation vs. constrained restoration. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 56, 231-253.