Fathers 'making flexible working a priority'

Mon, 10 Jan 2011

Fathers 'making flexible working a priority'

Research published by the government reveals the importance that many of the nation's dads assign to flexible working opportunities when it comes time to switch to a new job.

One in five of those surveyed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who have children aged 16 or below do not know whether their current employer offers flexible working arrangements - despite having the legal right to request them.

However, more than half (56 per cent) do consider flexible working rights to be an issue when looking at job vacancies, meaning companies that promote such issues could find talented workers easier to recruit and retain.

Meanwhile, among those with children aged five or under, the vast majority - at 91 per cent of those surveyed - consider the option of paid paternity leave for new fathers to be important.

Rob Williams, chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute, says: "It is so important that we support working fathers to have time off to spend time with their family and make sure they know how they can do that."

His comments come at the start of a month-long awareness campaign, Dads at Work, which aims to raise awareness of fathers' rights in the workplace in order to improve both job satisfaction and family life.

Employment relations minister Lord Young adds that businesses "see real benefits" in offering the necessary privileges to fathers - but that some dads still miss out on these due to a lack of awareness of their entitlements.

Among the rights that working fathers are entitled to is paternity leave of two weeks with pay on the birth of their child, with 13 weeks' unpaid leave also permitted until the child is five.

Parents with children aged up to 16, meanwhile, can ask to work from home, on flexible hours or part-time, with their employer legally obliged to give their request serious consideration.

Lewis Campbell, spokesman for Keep Britain Working, recently urged employers to ensure that any changes to working conditions enforced during the economic downturn are done so on a fair basis - affecting staff at all levels of seniority in the same way.

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