Working from home and changes in daily in-home and out-of-home activity time allocation

This study examines how working from home (WFH) is associated with daily time allocation across in-home and out-of-home activities. Using fourth-wave data from the COVID Future Survey, we compare reported activity durations for typical WFH and non-WFH days among employed U.S. adults with WFH experience. Because durations were reported in ordinal categories, random-effects ordered logit models were estimated while controlling for sociodemographic, household, housing, employment, and travel-related characteristics. WFH days were associated with more time in household care, in-home exercise, entertainment, and personal business. They were also associated with greater participation in out-of-home exercise, caregiving, and personal business, but less eating out and social activity. Household structure, income, commuting patterns, and mobility-related factors were also associated with activity allocation. By comparing the same respondents across both conditions, the paired reporting design provides exploratory within-person evidence of how activity patterns are reorganized when work location changes.