Digital transformation and remote work: gender, family size, and education in shaping work-from-home perceptions during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of work-from-home (WFH) practices, prompting a structural shift in labor organization and deepening preexisting digital divides. This research examines how gender, family size, and educational attainment shape individual perceptions of remote work, drawing on 2020 data from the Italian National Institute for Public Policy Analysis (INAPP) Survey on Labor Participation and Unemployment. Employing a mixed-methods analytical framework, ordered logit and probit regressions alongside classification neural networks and decision trees, the examination uncovers substantial heterogeneity in WFH experiences across social groups. Gender disparities remain salient, with systematic differences in how men and women evaluate flexibility, stress, and work–family balance under remote work arrangements. Educational background emerges as an important determinant of work-from-home perceptions, but primarily through intergenerational channels: parental education, and mothers’ education in particular, is strongly associated with how individuals evaluate autonomy, stress, and productivity under remote work arrangements. The findings underscore how digital transformation, in the form of remote work, risks reinforcing territorial and socioeconomic inequalities in the absence of inclusive, gender-sensitive, and family-responsive policy interventions.