New research from My Family Care into the mind-sets of working fathers in the UK has found that nearly two thirds (60%) of fathers who have children under school age say they don’t have a working pattern that suits them. A quarter (28%) of all fathers say they are unhappy with their work-life balance and more than half (53%) say they want to work in a different way to their current working pattern, either by having the ability to work remotely from home or leave the office an hour earlier.
On the flipside, half (50%) of the fathers surveyed said they felt that working flexibly was perceived as a sign of lack of commitment and, as a result, were afraid of asking. 42% also said they worried it would affect their career progression.
 |
| source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eamoncurry/6072966411/ |
Most fathers said that while society had changed dramatically, with many of their female partners working, old school attitudes in the workplace still prevailed. The general attitude that the working woman should take more responsibility for their children still remained. This meant that when a childcare emergency occurred there was a general sense amongst the office of “Can’t your wife deal with it?” Many of the one-to-one respondents felt this was down to a generational gap, where male senior managers, with grown-up children, were married to stay-at-home mothers meaning they don’t understand the issues that modern day fathers face from a practical, emotional or a cultural sense.
Ben Black, Director of My Family Care, which commissioned the research says: “Today, two out of three mothers are in employment. This means that once the maternity leave period of parenthood comes to an end, many working couples share childcare responsibilities equally. As a result the role of the father has changed dramatically over the last 20 years and they want more flexibility and understanding from their employer. They are afraid to ask because of the perceived stigma and impact on their careers. In order to keep their workforce engaged and retain their best talent, businesses need to overcome generational differences and tackle the problems head on. An engaged workforce is a productive workforce. ”
The research also asked fathers for their thoughts on Shared Parental Leave. Just one in five (20%) said they had seen any impact of it in their company or organisation. However, half (49%) of fathers who were planning another child were open to the idea of sharing parental leave with their partner, showing the likelihood of a rise in uptake in the future.
Al Ferguson, founder of The Dad Network, an online support network for fathers, says: "It's a concern that so many Dads feel like their work and family life isn't balanced. And an even greater concern that they feel they can't approach their workplace to discuss more flexibility. Work-life balance is a personal thing and different for everyone, but these stats show a trend that Dads feel like they're getting it wrong. There are companies out there who recognise the significance of family life but others who are missing a trick.
“Getting a good work-life balance is crucial to effective parenting and those parents that have jobs where it's difficult (or indeed impossible) to be flexible, must find this incredibly hard. Getting home in time for bathtime is hugely important for me as it allows me more opportunity to bond with my son, Ted. If I couldn't do this, my relationship would be very different with him.”
My Family Care has produced a guide detailing what working dads need and want today – giving advice to employers on how they can support them. Download for free at www.myfamilycare.co.uk.
Key quotes taken from the one-to-one interviews included:
How more flexibility would help Dads, according to Dads
“Just one day a week, working from home would make a huge difference! With that I would be happy and settled in my job and would not be looking elsewhere.”
“More flexibility around working hours would be better; it would be good to be able to say ‘okay, well I would like to pick up my child from school one day and then I will work a couple of hours in the evening.’ So if I left earlier, made the most of the time with the children and then worked from 7 until 9 in the evening from home when it’s quiet. If I could do that, that would be great.”
“It would be good to be able to turn down ‘opportunities’ to spend time away from home on business without feeling our job security will be jeopardized.”
Dads appreciate the benefits of their company’s flexible working policy
“I do the drop-off at nursery every morning because it coincides with the route to the tube station. And I work from home every Wednesday, and I do the collection as well on a Wednesday evening, which allows my wife to work late or have some time to herself.
“One of the huge benefits of my company is that they have a very good flexible working outlook. So when family is important and there is a need to put family above work, they're pretty good at responding to that and it gives us the flexibility to work better as a family in that respect.
“Particularly, since having children, flexibility has been a great bonus in why I've certainly looked favourably at my company and haven't really looked to move elsewhere.”
“I do appreciate the flexibility, something I'd very much like to keep and that's one of the things I like about this role. Because I do have the flexibility, I try my best to deliver and if that means staying late or getting up earlier one day then I'll do so. I do think it works out right.”
“I have a lot of flexibility at work; my boss has been very supportive in giving me the four-day week. I think the main challenges are to keep delivering at work. I'm office based and have an operational role, with a daily task that needs to be completed.”
The need for Senior Management to show their support
“I think more examples from senior management of flexible working would help. At the moment generally people say, ‘well they aren’t doing it, so should we really do it?’”
“I need for my employer to understand the logistics of taking kids to and from nursery or school and to support that, rather than imposing unrealistic demands on time that cannot be fulfilled without causing stress and upheaval.”
“Sadly, there's nothing I can do to make family life better. My company could, but doesn't.”
“We could do with help with the cost of childcare while we’re at work; it really eats away at the family budget each month.”
Fathers taking more of an active role in childcare
“I'm in the minority, I don't think I'm the exception. When I take my boys out, I'm not the only dad around – around 10% are fathers like me. Having said that, looking after children is predominantly seen as a mother's task.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thoughts?