Search Results for: working parents

Equal Lives survey to look at ways men can better balance work and home life

Equal Lives survey to look at ways men can better balance work and home life

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Equal Lives survey to look at ways men can better balance work and homeThe challenge to achieve gender equality at work isn’t made any easier by the attitudes of some employers. Although men increasingly want to be more present at home, currently fathers are twice as likely as mothers to have their requests for flexible working turned down. This means their work-life balance is increasingly a source of stress. For this reason a new survey is being launched to look at men’s roles at home and work with the hope that the results will support employers to help men take up more equal caring roles.The Equal Lives project, launched by Business in the Community in partnership with Santander UK, aims to highlight the issues men face when managing responsibilities at work and home and identify workplace practices and policies to help employers retain skilled male and female employees. The study is open to all men in work over 18, regardless of whether they have people who depend on them for their wellbeing. It is also open to women in work, but only those with care responsibilities.

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Organisations need to create a ‘smart everywhere’ environment finds Smart Summit

Organisations need to create a ‘smart everywhere’ environment finds Smart Summit

by • Events, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace

Organisations need to create a ‘smart everywhere’ environment finds Smart SummitWork is no longer a place but a set of activities which lead to a set of outcomes that could be delivered anywhere. Or as John Blackwell, Quora Consulting’s Managing Director succinctly described it at the first of the 2018 Quora Smartworking Summit’s held last week, organisations need to create a ‘smart everywhere’ environment. New digital platforms make far it easier for people to work in exactly the way they want.  Research by Quora has revealed that there are 5 million people currently working in the UK gig economy or around 15.6 percent of the total workforce. More people are working post retirement age and want to work in a way that they can control, while there are increasing numbers who simply want more autonomy in their lives in the way that self-employment can offer. More →

UK progress on opportunities for women in the workplace slows

UK progress on opportunities for women in the workplace slows

by • News, Workplace

New PwC research claims that the UK is not making progress fast enough to improve female economic empowerment in the workplace. Despite improvements since 2000, these gains have been outpaced by other countries’ efforts, according to the report. In particular, slow progress in closing the gender pay gap, coupled with a persistent low share of females in full-time employment, has put the brakes on the UK making bigger strides towards gender equality in the workplace. The latest Women in Work Index claims the UK has fallen slightly from 14th to 15th place in a ranking of 33 OECD countries based on five key indicators of female economic empowerment. Although labour market conditions for women improved, the UK was outpaced by better performance from other OECD countries. Since 2000, the UK’s position has improved from 17th place and it compares well to other G7 economies, being second only to Canada. The Nordic countries continue to lead the Index – with Iceland, Sweden and Norway rated as the top three countries for opportunities for women in the workplace.

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New government campaign sets out to increase take up of shared parental leave

New government campaign sets out to increase take up of shared parental leave

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Wellbeing

A new government campaigned launched today encourages more parents to take up the offer of Shared Parental Leave in their child’s first year. The workplace right for eligible parents allows them to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay after having a baby. They can take time off separately or they can be at home together for up to 6 months. Around 285,000 couples every year are eligible but take up could be as low as 2 percent, according to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and around half of the general public are unaware that the option exists for parents.

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Part time work and career breaks are a fundamental driver of gender pay gap

Part time work and career breaks are a fundamental driver of gender pay gap

by • Flexible working, News

gender pay gapParents are being hit by a “pay penalty” if they work in part-time jobs, according to a new study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The report found that mothers in particular tend to spend more time in part-time employment, so they do not benefit from pay rises associated with more experience, research found. By the time a first child reaches the age of 20, mothers earn around 30 percent less on average than similarly educated fathers, said the report, and the issue is a fundamental driver of the gender pay gap.

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New RSA report highlights increasingly precarious and diverse nature of work

New RSA report highlights increasingly precarious and diverse nature of work

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

work gig economy flexible workingBritain is dividing into seven new classes of worker as the gig economy grows, according to think-tank the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Striving, Thriving or Just About Surviving has been published to coincide with the launch of the RSA’s Future Work Centre, following RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor’s employment review for Theresa May last year. The report warns of a 30:40:30 society: while around 30 percent live comfortably, economic insecurity is “the new normal” with 40 percent just managing and a bottom 30 percent not managing to get by.

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Full time work has an adverse effect on wellbeing and happiness of mothers, study claims

Full time work has an adverse effect on wellbeing and happiness of mothers, study claims

by • News, Workplace

Mothers of children under the age of three who don’t work full time are generally more happy than those in full-time employment, a new study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies claims. The survey by Dana Hamplová of the Czech Academy of Sciences asked 5,000 mothers from 30 European countries to make a subjective assessment of their levels of wellbeing and happiness. It found that there was a small but significant increase in happiness among mothers who were not working, compared to full-time workers. The report found there were no differences in the self-reported levels of happiness of non-working mothers and those who work part time.

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Reduced hours do not necessarily lead to reduced workloads, study finds

Reduced hours do not necessarily lead to reduced workloads, study finds

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Professionals who want to work part-time have to do more than renegotiate their working hours; they also have to redesign their jobs to reduce outputs. Research published in the journal Human Relations, by Dr Charlotte Gascoigne from the Timewise Foundation and Professor Clare Kelliher from the Cranfield School of Management, shows that employers often do not reduce workload when professionals transition to part-time. This is not an insignificant problem for employers: one in five professionals and managers in the UK works part-time already, with more than two in five working part-time in the Netherlands. According to previous studies, a quarter of full-timers in the UK would prefer to work part-time, and are prepared to earn less, but don’t believe it’s possible.

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I’ve got some real estate here in my bag

I’ve got some real estate here in my bag

by • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology

Let us be lovers,
We’ll marry our fortunes together.
I’ve got some real estate
Here in my bag.
So we bought a pack of cigarettes,
And Mrs. Wagner’s pies,
And walked off
To look for America.
“Kathy”, I said,
As we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh,
Michigan seems like a dream to me now.

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Three quarters of managers are happy to allow staff to work flexibly to watch Wimbledon matches

Three quarters of managers are happy to allow staff to work flexibly to watch Wimbledon matches 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

According to a survey from the Institute of Leadership & Management a majority of workplaces are dealing with the summer of sport, by using flexible working to accommodate people’s enthusiasms. Based on a small sample size of around 200 organisations, three quarters (75 percent) of managers would allow staff to watch or listen to sporting events in the office. Staff wellbeing (28 percent) and lower absences (25 percent) are seen by managers as the two biggest benefits in allowing staff to watch or listen to sporting events in the office, according to the study. 78 percent said holiday clashes leaving too many employees off was the hardest aspect of managing staff over summer. The survey claims that 45 percent of managers see sporting events as a tool to boost staff morale. ‘Dress down Fridays’, flexible working hours and picnics were other popular methods. The study also found that managers believed allowing sport to be watched in the office means less absence due to sickness.

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Flexible and family friendly workplaces across the UK named in charity’s awards

Flexible and family friendly workplaces across the UK named in charity’s awards 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Britain’s most family friendly and flexible employers have been recognised in this year’s Top Employers for Working Families Awards. Now in their 8th year, the annual Top Employers for Working Families Special Awards from the UK’s work life balance charity cover 11 categories across a range of work life policies and practices. Four new sector-specific awards are being introduced this year for the private, public and third sectors; as well as a category for small employers. Sarah Jackson OBE, chief executive of Working Families, said: “In many ways, flexible working and family friendly working have never been more part of the bloodstream of British business. We had a record-breaking number of entries this year, showcasing a wealth of exciting approaches to creating agility in the workplace. Congratulations to all this year’s Top Employers for Working Families award winners, singled out because they offer leading flexible workplaces that support the grain of their employees’ lives. I look forward to working with them to make work work, for people, families and the economy, so that families thrive and business prospers.”

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Long term problems predicted for EU businesses if gender pay gap persists

Long term problems predicted for EU businesses if gender pay gap persists 0

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

As we reported earlier this week, more needs to be done to ensure that female representation in the boardroom increases; and now a new report paints a negative future for European businesses if the pay gap isn’t adequately addressed. Mercer has warned that a failure to address the EU’s substantial gender pension gap (40 percent), could cause long-term problems for businesses and governments alike; as through its analysis, the consultancy has found that the pension gap varies widely from one member state to another, however half have gaps of 30 percent or more. In its white paper The Gender Pension Gap – From Awareness to Action Mercer outlines the key drivers behind the pension gender gap, how it will impact companies and how they can start to address it within their workforce. Women continue to be significantly under-represented at all levels of the work force; in the EU their participation rate is 10 percent lower than men. The European Commission’s recent proposal for a directive on work-life balance for parents and carers, including the introduction of carers’ leave for dependent relatives, aims at addressing this under-representation.

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