More flexible working needed for dads

A recent survey has shown that there is a greater need for more flexible working for mums and dads.

According to latest research carried out by Workingmums.co.uk, dads are still being held back by old fashioned policies and fears that their employer will have a negative reaction to being asked for more flexible hours.

The annual survey, sponsored by McDonalds, shows that 59% of mums say their partner doesn’t work flexibly and only 4% say their partner works part time.

A survey of dads shows overwhelming demand for flexible working among men with 73% saying they are considering seeking it, but 72% fearing their employer’s reaction if they do.

Key findings reveal that:

• 62% have considered setting up a business with the flexibility to have more control the key reason
• 67% of women said they were interested in retraining
• 65% of working mums feel they have to work harder due to unconscious bias
• 11% have elder care as well as childcare responsibilities and 68% of these say their employer is not supportive.
• Grandparents are still the favoured way of reducing childcare costs (50%)
• 35% would consider Shared Parental Leave with finance being the main barrier (40%). However, 24% of mums say they just don’t want to share their leave.

Commenting on the results, Gillian Nissim, founder of Workingmums.co.uk, commented on the findings, “There has been a lot of focus in the last year on the gender pay gap. A huge part of this is down to the lack of women in senior positions. Promotion often occurs around the time that women start families. Our survey shows that more employers need to focus on ways to ensure women don’t drop off the progression track as a result of working flexibly. It also suggests much more needs to be done to make it easier for dads to share parenting duties more equally by enabling them to work flexibly.”

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