Multi-tasking is sometimes seen as a superpower, but the juggle of professional and personal responsibilities is making it harder for women to switch off from work, which can lead to stress and burnout.
Deloitte's Women at Work: A Global Outlook 2024 survey found only 37 per cent of women feel able to switch off from work.
Half of the women surveyed said their stress levels have increased since the year prior.
"It's difficult to implement boundaries and to stop bringing work home, especially now we are in a work-from-home environment," says Sara Quinn, president of the Australian Psychological Society.
She says women are also dealing with a "role conflict overload" where they might be a worker, a caregiver, and a partner.
"That can create competing demands that blur those work-life boundaries [and] the mental load of managing these responsibilities makes it harder for them to disengage."
Chronic connectivity partly to blame
Megan Dalla-Camina is the founder and CEO of Women Rising, a women's leadership and development program.
She says working from home, where available, has intensified expectations for women.
"Remote work, hybrid work … it's all blurring the boundaries between work and home.
"The culture of constantly being available, always needing to be on or 'I'm going to miss something'."
This "chronic connectivity" is exacerbating stress women are already experiencing, Dr Quinn says.
"This stress can naturally increase risk of burnout."
Flexible and part-time work — commonly sought by women trying to balance work and caregiving — can also mean professional and personal lives bleed into one another, Ms Dalla-Camina says.
Women workers make up three quarters of all part-time roles in Australia.
"We have to have flexible work — it's one of the most important things that keeps women in the workplaces.
"But it's this sense of always being on … finding all the spaces in between when we can get the work done."
She says right to disconnect laws are a step forward, but employers need to act for change to happen.
"We see unmanageable workloads with really high expectations from managers that can leave women feeling overwhelmed, and like they can't step away."
Inequity in the home
It's not just disconnecting from work women are struggling with, but switching off from home life in their professional lives.
The Deloitte survey found the disproportionate allocation of responsibilities to women — including childcare, household duties, and caring for another adult such as an aging parent — makes it more challenging for women professionally.
Only 27 per cent of women who bear the greatest responsibility at home say they can disconnect from their personal life and focus on their careers.
Recent research from Leah Ruppanner at The Future of Work Lab at the University of Melbourne found mothers were holding 70 per cent of the mental load at home.
"I wonder if mothers are just unable to switch off [in general] because they are carrying so much at home — and then work.
"It's all additive, and that makes switching off difficult."
She says men also find it hard to disconnect from work, but their time to focus on their career is more protected.
"Yes, they are bringing thoughts about work into the home … but women's time gets polluted with care.
"Women protect men's sleep too [for example tending to children in the night] — because men are expected to get high quality sleep to step into work fresh the next day."
Dr Quinn says equity at home plays an important role in helping women find a balance.
As well as a fair division of household labour, she says partners can help by encouraging and allowing women to get some "guilt-free time to rest and recharge".
"And see that recharge as an investment in them, their relationship, the workplace and their achievement in life.
"Not something that is a selfish act."
What women can do
While our experts acknowledge structural and systemic change is needed to help reduce stress around work, there are things we can do to help ourselves.
Dr Quinn says setting healthy physical boundaries is important, such as physical ways to make the end of the work day clear.
"Create a separation, almost ceremonially — whether that's stepping outside, engaging with an activity with loved ones, taking an animal for a walk.
"Some people in first responder organisations … will like to have a shower and change clothing which signifies they have ended their workday."
"Grey time" between work and personal life is also important, says Professor Ruppanner.
"In COVID [lockdowns] people said they were happy not to commute, but they also said the commute gave them an hour to decompress before stepping back into home.
"How do you give yourself permission to not feel like you're not running from run full-time job to the next?"
Creating spaces of decompressing time when transitioning may be helpful, she says.
Disconnecting from technology, such as deleting apps or silencing notifications, can encourage time away from work.
Dr Quinn says this can be undermined however if a workplace doesn't help to reinforce this.
Ms Dalla-Camina says understanding the stories that drive our behaviours and learning to reprogram the inner-critic that tells us "just send one more email", can help shift our mindset.
"This sets us up for the rest of the things we need to do like set boundaries."
Having designated work hours and sticking to them is one example of a boundary, says Ms Dalla-Camina.
"Have clear conversations with your manager and how and when and what you are working on.
"We need to clear on what the boundary is; I will not answer emails after 6pm — and hold that line when you get pushback."
Whatever self-care looks like for you — exercise or painting, for example — prioritising it can help take you away from work, Ms Dalla-Camina says.
But don't be too hard on yourself if you are finding these above strategies hard to implement.
"From an individual perspective there are things we can do, but it can be difficult to achieve these because there can be cognitive reasons women find it more difficult to disconnect from a workplace," Dr Quinn says.
"For example, they are more likely to be concerned about how their performance will be seen by the workplace."
