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Home Renaissance Foundation and the International Center for Work and Family of the IESE Business School have carried out a study to understand the impact of housework on individuals, their family relationships and their well-being at work.

The results have yielded interesting data on how levels of well-being at work improve (psychological empowerment, job satisfaction, greater professional commitment or job crafting) when the attitude towards housework is positive. It is also observed that couple relationships and communication with children improve when there is good planning and disposition towards housework. The negative note: the misuse of technology, the lack of techno-references and phubbing threaten our mental health and family well-being.

On Tuesday 16 May at 19.00 at the Fundación Telefónica (C/Fuencarral, 3. Madrid) and as part of the Telos Cycle ‘The Future of Work’, we will analyse the results of the study with experts in a round table discussion. It’s free but registration is required. 

Participants:
Antonio Argandoña, Home Renaissance Foundation
Professor Emeritus of Economics and Business Ethics at IESE Business School. He is the holder of the CaixaBank Chair of Corporate Social Responsibility at IESE Business School. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economic theory, Spanish and international economics, general economics, ethics applied to economics and business, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. Since 2017 he is one of the directors of the Home Renaissance Foundation for which he has edited four publications.

Begoña Pérez, La Ordenatriz
Known on social media as La Ordenatriz, Begoña Pérez is a professional home organiser, married and mother of seven children. She accumulates thousands and thousands of followers on the different platforms with whom she shares her tidying and cleaning tips. In September 2022 she published a book entitled ‘Cleanliness, order and happiness’.

Carmen del Campo, Mutua Madrileña
Director of Innovation at Mutua Madrileña where she has been working for 4 years, previously she was head of the Market Intelligence area for cities at Ferrovial, and did strategic consulting for the public sector at Deloitte. She holds a degree in Law and Business Administration from the University of Navarra and a Bachelor of Business Administration from IESE Business School.

José Miguel Cubillo, Expert in Family Therapy
Graduated in Psychology and Architecture, José Miguel Cubillo has combined professional practice with teaching throughout his career. He has been a guest lecturer at various international universities and is also an expert in family therapy. He was for years the president of the association Aula Familiar and, later, president of the International Federation for Family Development in Spain, an institution with General Consultative Status at the United Nations.

María Zabala, iWomanish
María Zabala is the Director of Society and Technology at Alabra. As a journalist has been working in communications for more than 20 years. After many years in news agencies, radio, press and television, she focused on the biomedical and scientific sectors from where she reflects on the impact of the digital society on our lives. As a consultant, she advises companies and institutions on digital education content.

María José Olesti, The Family Watch
She is a lawyer and managing director of The Family Watch, the international institute for the study of the family. Maria José has been working for the foundation since 2012. She holds a law degree from San Pablo CEU University and a Master’s degree in Social Leadership from IESE Business School. She is also a family advisor at IFFD.

LINK FOR REGISTRATION HERE

En Home Renaissance Foundation hemos realizado un estudio con el Centro Internacional Trabajo y Familia del IESE Business School, para conocer cómo influye el trabajo del hogar en la persona, la familia y su bienestar laboral.

Organizamos una mesa redonda en el Espacio Telefónica para presentar los resultados el martes 16 de mayo.

Vídeo completo de la sesión aquí | Resumen en español aquí

Además, en estos enlaces podrás encontrar los resultados del estudio, las conclusiones, las infografías y las recomendaciones de los expertos:

1. El Phubbing amenaza nuestra salud mental y el bienestar familiar

Nota de Prensa | Infografías

2. El trabajo del hogar es el nuevo aliado para alcanzar mejores niveles de bienestar laboral

Nota de Prensa | Infografías

3. Una actitud positiva hacia las tareas del hogar influye positivamente en la relación de los padres con sus hijos

Nota de Prensa | Infografías

4. Continúa existiendo desigualdad de género en el cuidado de las tareas del hogar, ahora bien, cuando la pareja goza de buena relación la diferencia es mucho menor

Nota de Prensa | Infografías

Los expertos del ICWF/IESE que han realizado esta investigación son:

Mireia Las Heras | Profesora de Dirección de Personas en las Organizaciones en IESE Business School, Universidad de Navarra, España – donde ejerce como Directora del Centro Internacional Trabajo y Familia.

Yasin Rofcanin | Profesor de Psicología Organizacional y Gestión de Recursos Humanos en la Universidad de Bath y Doctor en Filosofía (Ph.D.), División de Organización y GRH, Doctor en Comportamiento Organizacional en la Universidad de Warwick -Warwick Business School.

Marc Grau | Profesor e Investigador de la Cátedra de Políticas de Atención a la Infancia y a la Familia de la Universitat Internacional de Catalunya y WAPPP Research Fellow de la Harvard Kennedy School.

Para cualquier entrevista o más detalles de la investigación, contactar con Ángela de Miguel

• Men’s attitude towards housework is different from women’s and changes throughout life
• Men have a greater interest in housework after 35, women between 20 and 35
• Between 35 and 50 there is greater similarity in interest and time spent on daily cleaning and cooking

London, January 23, 2023. According to the first study carried out by IESE Business School’s International Center for Work and Family and the London-based international think tank, Home Renaissance Foundation, those parents who are more involved in the work of the home are those who also spend more time with their children and show more interest in their daily tasks and relationships. Those with more interest in housework are more involved in their children’s plans (under 14), talk more with them about their friendships and homework, and play more with them. (See infographics).

When the mother’s attitude towards housework is VERY positive, the number of days per week she spends with her children in various activities is 6 days. This is very similar to the amount of time the father spends with his children when the father’s attitude towards housework is also very positive.

Attitudes towards housework are different for men and women and change with age. Interestingly, attitudes evolve in the opposite direction: while men are more interested in housework from the age of 35 onwards, women are less interested in housework from that age onwards.

Two practical examples:

Cleanliness and tidiness: The need for a clean and tidy home increases with age for men, while women become slightly less demanding with age.

Cooking: The biggest difference between men and women is between the ages of 20 and 35. In this age group, women are 60% more likely to agree that daily cooking is a must. Between the ages of 35 and 50, the difference narrows to 6%, and between the ages of 51 and 65, men agree 18% more strongly that daily cooking is essential.

Is it possible to enjoy housework?

Men and women do not differ substantially (less than 10% difference) in their perception of housework as enjoyable. The biggest difference is in the under 35 age group, where women are 15% more inclined to enjoy housework than men. The most similar age group is the 35-50 age group.

The academics who carried out this study recommend:

–  the media and public campaigns encourage better attitudes towards housework, which in turn will encourage involvement in children’s lives and development.

– couples try to share their responsibilities in the home, understanding that domestic tasks require both planning and carrying them out.

– companies and educational programmes encourage the co-responsibility of men and women in the home, so that fathers and mothers are equally and more involved in their children’s lives.

Other conclusions of this study are:

1. Phubbing threatens our mental health and family well-being (See infographics | Read press release).
2. The work of the home is the new ally in achieving better levels of employee wellbeing (See infographics | Read press release).

Psychological empowerment, job satisfaction, greater professional commitment or job crafting are some of the benefits of having a positive attitude towards housework.

• Psychological empowerment predicts job innovation and satisfaction, as well as work-life balance, and the higher it is, the lower the emotional exhaustion
• Job satisfaction and work engagement respond to the desire to stay at work, so higher levels of job satisfaction lead to lower absenteeism, higher levels of job performance and lower intentions to leave the organization
• Job crafting predicts work meaningfulness and safety behaviours (in jobs that involve risks to oneself or others), and organisational commitment. Higher levels reduce risk of workaholism.

London, January 23, 2023. According to the first study carried out by IESE Business School’s International Center for Work and Family and the London-based international think tank, Home Renaissance Foundation, people who have a positive attitude towards housework have higher levels of employee wellbeing.

So what are all these terms and how do they relate to housework? Psychological empowerment, or in other words, a sense of self-control in relation to one’s own work and active engagement in one’s own role, is a skill that increases by 9% if one has a positive attitude towards housework. (See infographics).

Job satisfaction increases by 20% and Work engagement also increases by 26%, which means that the employee feels involved and an active part of his or her company, making it difficult to disengage and feeling that time passes quickly.

Job crafting, on the other hand, improves by 18%. Job crafting refers to proactive behaviour aimed at adapting work to one’s needs and preferences, rather than reactively performing work that the organisation has created.

ICWF/IESE and HRF,

– recommend that public campaigns encourage better attitudes towards housework, which in turn will increase well-being at work.

– encourage couples to share domestic responsibilities, not seeing housework as a duty, but as an opportunity to serve others and develop their own skills.

– suggest further training on planning and fulfilling household tasks as a means to improve individual and family well-being.

– And finally, we recommend that companies facilitate co-responsibility for their employees, as this will improve their well-being at work.

Other conclusions of this study are:

1. Phubbing threatens our mental health and family well-being (See infographics | Read press release).
2. A positive attitude towards housework has a positive influence on parents’ relationship with their children (See infographics | Read press release).

Almost 50% of the men surveyed are at risk of phubbing because they perceive that their employers expect them to be highly available for work at any time. For women it is 33%.

London, January 23, 2023. According to the first study by IESE Business School’s International Center for Work and Family and the London-based international think tank, Home Renaissance Foundation, mental health, self-esteem or well-being could be threatened by phubbing because parents perceive that they must be highly available for work at any time of the day.

What is phubbing? Ignoring others by being on your phone or electronic devices. A practice that not only does not serve as an example for children at home (lack of technological reference) but also causes social isolation and problems in relationships, since the times when phubbing occurs most often are at mealtimes or when they spend time together. Those who are neglected are at risk of feeling unimportant, excluded or rejected.

Phubbing is intensified in cases where the family lives under financial pressure, i.e., when the health of the household economy feels threatened. In such cases, parents’ neglect of their children is 70% higher for men and 50% higher for women. (See infographics).

This financial pressure also affects “technoference”, i.e., the number of times children interrupt their interaction with their parents to pay attention to different screens. The greater the financial pressure, the more children interrupt activities with their parents to turn to digital devices.

The health of family relationships is important for later performance in the workplace, so this study recommends:

– To companies: encourage their employees to disconnect from work to promote good use of technology at home and a healthy enjoyment of free time.

– To families: establish rules at home regarding the use of technology and encourage healthier communication between household members, especially when eating together, travelling or enjoying leisure time.

– And for schools: develop screen-free initiatives to raise awareness of the excessive use of technology and the benefits of interpersonal relationships not mediated by screens.

Other conclusions of this study are:

1. The work of the home is the new ally for achieving better levels of employee wellbeing (See infographics | Read the press release).
2. A positive attitude towards housework has a positive influence on parents’ relationship with their children (See infographics | Read the press release).

Addressing happiness is always a difficult challenge. The experts who took part in our event last Thursday at the Roma Tre University were faced with the complexity of defining the term because it is ambiguous, broad, and often even paradoxical.

Professor Antonio Petagine (Università Roma Tre) said that we all want happiness, we all seek it, and we all long for it, but we do not always obtain it, and on many occasions, this impossibility of finding it is due to the fact that we fall into the error of giving it a hedonistic meaning, seeking our own satisfaction. But this attitude leaves an emptiness that rarely makes us happy.

Given the thousands of suicides and the high consumption of antidepressants, Professor Vinicio Busacchi (Università de Cagliari) suggested turning to philosophical reflection to discover those situations that make our lives unhappy and try to improve them. “Philosophy can help us understand the meaning of life and become a school of life,” said Busacchi, recalling the title of a famous essay by Lou Marinoff entitled “More Plato and less Prozac.”

And then, the concept of relational happiness came up, when Professor Nicola di Stefano (CNR Roma) explained that Aristotle said that, among other things, happiness depends on the number of friends one has and the quality of that friendship. Can our happiness depend on the environment around us? Is the home the first place to find happiness because it is the first place where we relate to others? The home is a test bed, a private place, where we feel protected, it is a nest,” Di Stefano stressed.

Ambassador Roberto Rossi, author of “Aristotele: l’arte di vivere. Fondamenti e pratica dell’etica aristotelica come via alla felicità” (FrancoAngeli, 2018), recalled that happiness is not a moment in life, but a constant state of the soul, a concatenation of actions that help us to find the ultimate goal of life, happiness. Aristotle insisted that happiness is identified with the good life, i.e. the virtuous life. The “recipe” is therefore to try to seek the best possible good in everything we do, unselfishly.

As the editor of the book ‘Happiness and Domestic Life‘, Professor and Philosopher Maria Teresa Russo, explained, the question we have to ask ourselves is: what home for what happiness? Because we can understand the home as a refuge or, conversely, as a place of conflict and happiness as well-being in a material sense. On the other hand, the home is that physical place where we live, think and love: where we guard our own intimacy and define our identity. A complex but unitary system, where happiness is taking care of each other, disinterestedly.

“The levels of mental disorders, depression and even suicide have increased among the new generations of university students. It is an epidemic that has to do with the impact of technology on our way of life”, Ignacio Aizpún, director general of ATAM.

Madrid | 5 Nov 2021. On the occasion of the presentation of the book The Home in the Digital Age by the international think tank Home Renaissance Foundation, a round table discussion with experts took place last week at Telefónica Foundation to analyse the impact of technology in the home.

The impact of technology on homes and society as a whole is evident, “it is even transforming the way our minds communicate. This has consequences and is causing new diseases due to maladjustment,” explained Ignacio Aizpún, director general of ATAM.

The sociologist and member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, Julio Díez Nicolás, stated that technology has been with us since the Stone Age, because human beings must survive. Thanks to human intelligence and life in society, people are adapting. “Technology has always been the fundamental factor of social change because it provides us with a different future. Today there are five inventions that will change our lives: artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, holograms and virtual reality,” said Díaz.

But what is Artificial Intelligence and how does it affect our daily lives? María José Monferrer, an engineer and founder of AI-verse, tried to answer this question. She defined AI as a “multidisciplinary field of science and engineering whose aim is to create intelligent machines that emulate human intelligence and, eventually, surpass that intelligence. Therein lies the risk.

Monferrer warned that we have implemented some technologies in the home, but we are only at the beginning of the uses we will be able to make of AI. So it’s a good time to stop and assess the risks. It is important to think about how we can apply the rules to protect the fundamental rights at stake: personal data protection, privacy and non-discrimination.

ATAM is clear about the use of AI, as Aizpún stated, “we need to be able to process the information that AI provides us with in the form of data to learn more about the person, their situation, their health variables, their activity, their functioning, their context. Only by transmitting, governing and activating this data in a secure way will we be able to generate responses and solutions that allow the disabled or dependent person to continue living at home in optimal conditions of safety, health and integrity”.

The three speakers and the Director-General of Childhood, Family and Birth Promotion, Alberto San Juan, who closed the event, agreed on the importance of putting the person at the centre of this technological transformation and on continuous, personal and family training as a solution to many of the challenges presented by technologies in the home. “The family must be cared for as the most precious asset and this is done with love, patience and training. The lifelong School for Parents is still essential and necessary. In the Community of Madrid we are facing real dramas due to the misuse of technology among young people,” warned San Juan.

In 2008, the Community of Madrid created a service to help families, inviting them to discuss their concerns about the misuse of technology in the home.  Alberto San Juan explained “we attend to families with children between 10 and 18 years old. Families come when they suspect that their children’s relationship with technology is not good and is not helping family coexistence. Young people are sometimes betting on each other having a 24, 48, which means spending two days in a row playing games and connected to the Internet”.

Despite the risks that technology can pose for households, it was clear that technology is neutral, it is neither good nor bad, in itself, it depends on the use that people make of it, although Aizpún wanted to stress that we have an important mission, “we must create new social institutions, new models of social organisation that allow human beings to adapt to these new environmental conditions that technology is creating”.

The event can be watched again here.