Employers
are missing out on a major pool of potential workers because they’re not
flexible enough to accommodate lone parents who want to get back to work, new
research claims.
Nationwide
research among lone parents suggests the majority want to return to work, but
are unable to do so because of childcare commitments.
The
study, carried out by Reed in Partnership, shows lone parents are valuable
recruits because 89 per cent have experience and 70 per cent would like to
return to work.
Chris
Melvin, who conducted the research, said employers are too used to only
offering full-time work and need to start fitting jobs around people’s
commitments.
"Our
research found that almost 90 per cent of lone parents have worked before so
that’s a lot of valuable, untapped experience that bosses could be making use
of," he said.