Working Papers

The WNE Working Papers series has been published by the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw since 2008.

The WNE Working Papers series provides a fast, open channel for disseminating research conducted at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw. The papers hosted here are working versions (pre-prints) and may evolve as authors refine their analyses, incorporate feedback, or progress through formal peer-review. What you read is the current version released by the authors, timestamped and assigned DOI/ISSN identifiers to ensure precise citation and version tracking. Copyright remains with the authors, who may, at any time, upload a revised file or add a note directing readers to a later, peer-reviewed publication.

The Working Papers series accepts articles by research employees of the Faculty and publications from conferences organised at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. Articles should be original research papers which have not been previously published, on the subject of economics.

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Number of Results 14

WP(36/2026)530. Work-from-Home as a Structural Bridge: How the Spread of Remote Work Shapes Maternal Employment in Europe

Authors: Grabowska Magdalena, Matysiak Anna, Kurowska Anna
The rapid diffusion of work-from-home (WFH) has fundamentally restructured working arrangements in Europe, yet its role as a structural driver of parental employment remains under-researched. Analyzing macro-level panel data across 15 European countr…

WP530. Work-from-Home as a Structural Bridge: How the Spread of Remote Work Shapes Maternal Employment in Europe

The rapid diffusion of work-from-home (WFH) has fundamentally restructured working arrangements in Europe, yet its role as a structural driver of parental employment remains under-researched. Analyzing macro-level panel data across 15 European countries (2006–2024) alongside micro-level maternal transitions, we examine WFH's impact on employment for parents of young children. We find that national WFH prevalence is positively and significantly associated with maternal employment, while no effects are observed for fathers or non-parents. A 10-percentage point increase in national WFH share increases maternal employment rates by 0.86 percentage points the following year and raises a mother’s probability of transitioning from non-employment to work by 4.7 percentage points. However, WFH primarily facilitates part-time employment, acting as a reconciliatory bridge rather than a catalyst for full-time integration. Ultimately, while remote work enhances labor market attachment, without broader structural changes to domestic labor divisions, it risks prioritizing work-family reconciliation over full career equality.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2026.36.530
Grabowska Magdalena, Matysiak Anna, Kurowska Anna
work-from-home maternal employment labor market transitions work-family reconciliation

WP(5/2026)499. Technological Change, Labour Markets and Family Behaviours in Sweden

Authors: Matysiak Anna, Andersson Linus, Hardy Wojciech
This study examines whether long-term structural labour market change, driven by industrial robotization, has influenced family formation and union stability in Sweden. Linking Swedish population register data (1994–2017) with sector-level meas…

WP499. Technological Change, Labour Markets and Family Behaviours in Sweden

This study examines whether long-term structural labour market change, driven by industrial robotization, has influenced family formation and union stability in Sweden. Linking Swedish population register data (1994–2017) with sector-level measures of robot penetration, we analyse transitions into first marriage, first, second, and third births, and divorce. We distinguish between current exposure to robotization among employed workers and residual exposure among individuals who exited employment in robotizing sectors. Event-history models are complemented by an instrumental-variable approach that exploits cross-national variation in robot adoption to strengthen causal interpretation. On average, we find only weak associations between robotization and family transitions. However, substantial heterogeneity emerges by educational attainment. Among low- and medium-educated women and men, higher exposure to automation is linked to lower birth risks, weaker marriage formation, and higher divorce risks. In contrast, highly educated individuals experience neutral or positive associations between automation and family formation, alongside greater union stability. We conclude that the aggregate contribution of structural labour market change caused by industrial automation to Sweden’s post-recession fertility decline appears limited, automation contributes to widening educational disparities in family trajectories and reinforces cumulative disadvantage across labour market and family domains.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2026.5.499
Matysiak Anna, Andersson Linus, Hardy Wojciech
labour market technology industrial robots family fertility

WP(29/2025)492. Childbearing in the Knowledge-Based Society: Job-Related Learning Demands and the Transition to Parenthood in Germany

Authors: Luo Chen, Jarosz Ewa, Matysiak Anna
This study investigates the relationship between learning demands at work and the transition to parenthood in Germany. As a consequence of technological progress and intensifying global competition, workplace learning is no longer an optional path to…

WP492. Childbearing in the Knowledge-Based Society: Job-Related Learning Demands and the Transition to Parenthood in Germany

This study investigates the relationship between learning demands at work and the transition to parenthood in Germany. As a consequence of technological progress and intensifying global competition, workplace learning is no longer an optional path to career advancement but has become an essential job demand. Consequently, it absorbs time and energy that could otherwise be devoted to family formation, prompting individuals to postpone childbearing or have fewer children. Yet, the fertility implications of this structural change have not been systematically examined. This study addresses this gap by analysing how job-related high learning demands relate to the transition to the first birth. The results indicate that individuals in jobs with high learning demands, both men and women, tend to delay the transition to the first birth. However, these delays do not appear to preclude them from becoming parents later, suggesting a postponement rather than a withdrawal from parenthood.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2025.29.492
Luo Chen, Jarosz Ewa, Matysiak Anna
fertility childbearing learning demands labour market transformation work-family conflict

WP(27/2025)490. Employers’ Discrimination against Fathers and Mothers Taking Parental Leave: Evidence from a Choice Experiment

Authors: Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa, Matysiak Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka, Kaufman Gayle
This study provides causal evidence on the hiring and pay penalties associated with taking parental leave of varying lengths. We investigate how deviations from prevailing social norms, in the form of non-standard leave-taking behavior by mothers and…

WP490. Employers’ Discrimination against Fathers and Mothers Taking Parental Leave: Evidence from a Choice Experiment

This study provides causal evidence on the hiring and pay penalties associated with taking parental leave of varying lengths. We investigate how deviations from prevailing social norms, in the form of non-standard leave-taking behavior by mothers and fathers, affect their employment outcomes. We also compare the parental leave penalties with those linked to unemployment to disentangle the determinants of these penalties and to identify the mechanisms through which they operate. To this end, we conducted a discrete choice experiment with 997 managers, who evaluated hypothetical job candidates differing in the length of employment interruptions due to parental leave. Using a conditional logit model, we find that both mothers and fathers face disadvantages in hiring and remuneration when taking longer parental leave. Notably, fathers are penalized for taking any parental leave, though the penalties are more severe for longer leave. These poorer employability prospects stem from managers perceiving such fathers as less available for work. Meanwhile, mothers receive hiring and pay bonuses for taking shorter leaves, stemming from employer perceptions of such mothers as more available, competent, and motivated.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2025.27.490
Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa, Matysiak Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka, Kaufman Gayle
parental leave family policies employment wages gender norms ideal worker norms

WP(8/2024)444. Work from Home and Perceptions of Career Prospects of Employees with Children

Authors: Kurowska Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka
This study explores how various work and family-related contexts moderated the link between work-from-home (WFH) and self-perceived changes to the career prospects among employees with children after over a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue tha…

WP444. Work from Home and Perceptions of Career Prospects of Employees with Children

This study explores how various work and family-related contexts moderated the link between work-from-home (WFH) and self-perceived changes to the career prospects among employees with children after over a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the link between WFH and the perception of changes to one’s career prospects is likely to differ depending on gender, occupation, whether the employee has worked from home before the pandemic, how much time their children spent at home due to pandemic restrictions and the cohabiting status of the parent. We conducted fixed effects multinomial regression models using a unique multi-country dataset, including representative samples of parents with dependent children from Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and the US. Employees with children who had prior experience with WFH before the pandemic were more likely to report improved career prospects than those who worked solely in the office. The positive effect of WFH for newcomers to the world of remote work was less unequivocal and varied based on occupation and gender. We also find that the presence of children at home and the cohabitation status substantially moderate the link between WFH and perceived changes to one's career prospects, with different implications based on the employee's gender. We fill the research gap by showing how fluid workers perceptions of career prospects depend on varying professional (prior experience with WFH and occupation) and personal (increased family demands) situations. This study also indicates the need for context-sensitive career management in organisations.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.33138/2957-0506.2024.8.444
Kurowska Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka
career prospects family gender work from home remote work

WP(28/2023)435. Mechanisms Underlying the Effects of Work From Home on Careers in the Post-Covid Context

Authors: Matysiak Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka, Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa
This article explores how Work From Home (WFH) affects workers’ career progression in the post-pandemic context of the United Kingdom, elucidating the mechanisms that drive these outcomes. Using data from the discrete choice experiment fielded …

WP435. Mechanisms Underlying the Effects of Work From Home on Careers in the Post-Covid Context

This article explores how Work From Home (WFH) affects workers’ career progression in the post-pandemic context of the United Kingdom, elucidating the mechanisms that drive these outcomes. Using data from the discrete choice experiment fielded between July and December 2022 among 1,000 managers, we show that teleworkers, whether in hybrid or full-time WFH arrangements, face a disadvantageous evaluation by managers compared to their office-based counterparts. The adverse effect of hybrid teleworking is due to the fact that employers consider hybrid workers are less productive than onsite workers. Full-time teleworkers are penalized even if they display the same performance at work as onsite workers. We demonstrate this penalty to be driven by the fact that managers consider full-time teleworkers to be less committed to work than onsite workers. Consistently with past research, we also find that WFH affects workers’ careers differently depending on their gender and parental obligations and that managers’ assumptions about workers’ performance and commitment allow to explain at least some of these differences.


Matysiak Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka, Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa
career experiment family gender promotion work from home

WP(16/2023)423. Managerial Preferences towards Employees Working from Home: Post-Pandemic Experimental Evidence

Authors: Kasperska Agnieszka, Matysiak Anna, Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa
Work from home (WFH) has been a part of the professional landscape for over two decades, yet it was the COVID-19 pandemic that has substantially increased its prevalence. The impact of WFH on careers is rather ambiguous, and a question remains open a…

WP423. Managerial Preferences towards Employees Working from Home: Post-Pandemic Experimental Evidence

Work from home (WFH) has been a part of the professional landscape for over two decades, yet it was the COVID-19 pandemic that has substantially increased its prevalence. The impact of WFH on careers is rather ambiguous, and a question remains open about how this effect is manifested in the current times considering the recent extensive and widespread use of WFH during the pandemic. In an attempt to answer these questions, this article investigates whether managerial preferences for promotion, salary increase and training allowance depend on employee engagement in WFH. We also explore the heterogeneity of the effects of WFH on careers across different populations by taking into account the employee’s gender, parenthood status, frequency of WFH as well as the prevalence of WFH in the team. An online discrete choice experiment was run on a sample of over 1,000 managers from the United Kingdom. The experiment was conducted between July and December 2022, and thus after the extensive use of this working arrangement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings indicate that employees who WFH are less likely to be considered for promotion, salary increase and training than on-site workers. The pay and promotion penalties for WFH are particularly true for men (both fathers and non-fathers) and childless women, but not mothers. We also find that employees operating in teams with a higher prevalence of WFH do not experience negative career effects when working from home. The findings underline the importance of individual factors and familiarisation as well as social acceptance of flexible working arrangements in their impact on careers.


Kasperska Agnieszka, Matysiak Anna, Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa
career experiment family gender promotion work from home

WP(1/2023)408. Gender and family perspectives on the uptake of ICT-induced home-based work

Authors: Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa, Matysiak Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka
This article examines how men and women exploited the work location flexibility enabled by ICT in the context of their family obligations prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. We use the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey for 30 European countries and…

WP408. Gender and family perspectives on the uptake of ICT-induced home-based work

This article examines how men and women exploited the work location flexibility enabled by ICT in the context of their family obligations prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. We use the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey for 30 European countries and estimate a set of multinomial logistic regression models, with the dependent variable measuring the frequency of home-based work. We find that when using ICT at work, men were more likely to work from home, both occasionally and more frequently whereas women were more likely to engage in sporadic home-based work but less likely to do so frequently. These results are particularly true for parents, except for single mothers of young children. As single mothers cannot rely on partners’ support in combining paid work and care, the advantages of home-based telework (time savings, flexible time organization) outweigh the negative consequences of this work arrangement.


Cukrowska-Torzewska Ewa, Matysiak Anna, Kasperska Agnieszka
family gender home-based telework ICT use remote work teleworkers

WP(31/2022)407. Working from Home and Employee Perception of Career Prospects in Europe: the Gender and Family Perspectives

Authors: Kasperska Agnieszka
This article examines the relationship between work from home and perceived career prospects for employees from 29 European countries, considering gender and family perspectives. The indicators of career prospects pertain to advancement prospects, jo…

WP407. Working from Home and Employee Perception of Career Prospects in Europe: the Gender and Family Perspectives

This article examines the relationship between work from home and perceived career prospects for employees from 29 European countries, considering gender and family perspectives. The indicators of career prospects pertain to advancement prospects, job visibility, and rapport with a supervisor and colleagues. Multilevel modelling was applied to the cross-sectional data of the European Working Conditions Survey which was merged with the country-level Family Policies Sub-Index to grasp the potential moderating effect of national contexts. The findings indicate positive relationships between work from home and career prospects for men both fathers and non-fathers, and rather negative relationships for women, especially for mothers. Higher provision of work-family reconciliation measures and the prevalence of work from home are associated with better career prospects reported by both men and women. Varying relationships for different work from home frequencies are observed, with workers who work from home less frequently reporting better career prospects.


Kasperska Agnieszka
career prospects family gender promotion remote work working from home

WP(22/2022)398. Working from home during Covid-19 pandemic and changes to fertility intentions among parents

Authors: Kurowska Anna, Matysiak Anna, Osiewalska Beata
The Covid-19 pandemic and related massive spread of home based work led to substantial changes in the conditions for combining work and childbearing. On the one hand, working from home helped parents to accommodate increased childcare needs. On the o…

WP398. Working from home during Covid-19 pandemic and changes to fertility intentions among parents

The Covid-19 pandemic and related massive spread of home based work led to substantial changes in the conditions for combining work and childbearing. On the one hand, working from home helped parents to accommodate increased childcare needs. On the other, it led to blurred boundaries between work and family life during lockdowns. We investigate how working from home was related to change in fertility intentions of mothers and fathers during the pandemic and discuss the complex mechanisms behind these relationships. With the use of unique Familydemic Survey data for Poland, we estimate multinomial logit regressions and consider a set of potential moderators. We find evidence for an overall negative relationship between home based work and fertility intentions for mothers and fathers, but we also uncover some positive moderating effects. In particular, we shed light on the unexpected moderating role of gendered division of unpaid labor from before the pandemic. 


Kurowska Anna, Matysiak Anna, Osiewalska Beata
fertility intentions childbearing decisions Covid-19 pandemic coronavirus pandemic working from home telecommuting telework home based work work-family reconciliation work-family conflict parents gender relations division of unpaid work
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