Why flexible working should be inclusive for fathers
Work-life-balance and flexible working are universal terms used when marrying our career options and living our life on less stressful conditions. These terms are, more-often-than-not, directed towards women in the workplace who balance working and childcare. However, what is not often noted is the father’s role in the balancing act too. Research from Working Families and Bright Horizons have recently published their report with astounding findings.
More and more fathers are playing an active role in raising their children. It is no longer limited to drop off or pick up at nursery and school, or bath times only, but increasingly the heartfelt desire to spend more time with their children. Regrettably, this desire to have more family time, watching their children grow and develop, does not combine well with an inflexible working schedule. With such a rigid formula, the result is not positive and fathers have reached peak stress levels. A third of the fathers surveyed feel burnt out regularly and one in five are working extra hours in the evening or at weekends.
Sarah Jackson, CEO of Working Families, has said: “making roles flexible by default and a healthy dose of realism when it comes to what can be done in the hours available are absolutely vital”. This demonstrates the workplace culture where most fathers found the workplace to be "unsupportive" of their aspirations for a better work-life fit. For nearly one fifth, their employer is, at best, unsympathetic about childcare, expecting no disruption to work.
The report found that the outcome from the juggling and balancing act of work and childcare was a “fatherhood penalty”, where fathers would seek to stall their career or take a less stressful role in the workplace (usually a more junior role) in order to meet the demands of work and family life. Over a third of fathers surveyed are willing to take a pay cut to achieve a better work-life balance.
Plainly, this is not fair. Fathers shouldn’t have to seek permission to be a parent, no less from their employer. Further they shouldn’t be made to feel marginalised in the workplace because it does not accommodate their family life. Simply, employers need to change their attitude to fatherhood and be more flexible. Why should parents have to pay the penalty for having and raising children? Parents have a human instinct to nurture their child and a natural desire to spend time with them too, yet are having to forgo quality time in order to work.
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