In many organizations, the prevailing belief is that those who go the extra mile will be rewarded. However, a new study co-authored by WU Professor Isabella Grabner shows that this principle does not apply equally to everyone. Women are significantly more likely to take on voluntary “office housework” – and this can harm their careers. The findings provide new explanations for the well-known phenomenon of the “leaky pipeline,” which means that the proportion of women drops at every step up the career ladder, ultimately contributing to the disparity of incomes between women and men, known as the gender pay gap.

“Office housework” vs. career-advancing extra tasks

An international research team led by Isabella Grabner, professor at the Institute for Strategy and Managerial Accounting at WU Vienna, analyzed task allocation among around 500 employees at a financial services company. The researchers focused on additional tasks that go beyond employees’ formal job descriptions, known in academic terms as “organizational citizenship behavior.” The study distinguishes between two types of such activities:

• “Office housework” refers to voluntary tasks that support the team and keep things running — like organizing team events or helping improve the workplace environment. While these activities are essential for organizations to function, they don’t benefit people’s careers.

• The second category, “office glamour work,” includes strategic, high-visibility projects that often serve as career boosters.

The study results show that women take on almost twice as much office housework as men, while being about one third less likely to be involved in career-advancing office glamour work. “We know from numerous studies that the gender roles attributed to us often unconsciously influence which tasks we take on ourselves,” says Grabner.

Extra tasks as a career trap for women

In addition to task allocation, the research team also examined how these extra efforts were evaluated. Here, another inequality becomes apparent: Men received significantly more recognition than women for doing office housework. By contrast, women received only slightly more recognition than men for strategic, career-enhancing office glamour work.

“Women take on office housework more frequently, often at the expense of tasks that would be beneficial to their careers,” says Grabner. This occurs even in organizations that actively strive for gender equality.

What companies can do about it

“Good intentions alone are not enough to ensure equality,” Grabner emphasizes. “Organizations need to take an active role in managing who takes on which tasks – and how these contributions are evaluated and rewarded.”

The authors of the study identify several ways to help ensure more fairness in the distribution of tasks. This includes systematic rotation instead of relying on volunteers for extra tasks, as well as having supervisors assig office housework and career-advancing projects to employees. At the same time, supervisors also play a key role in encouraging women to take on strategic, career-enhancing responsibilities. “It’s also up to us women to be confident and seize the opportunities offered to us,” Grabner concludes.

Detailed results and further information

Video on the study results and Interview with Isabella Grabner

Bol, J. C., Fogel-Yaari, H., Grabner, I., Sedatole, K. (2026): Promoting Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB): Unintended Gender Disparities in the Participation and Evaluation of Different Types of OCB. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5529958 or DOI: 10.2308/TAR-2024-0149

Press contact

Julia Kreimel 
Science Communication
Tel: + 43-1-31336-5478
Email: juliakreimel@wu.ac.at