A campaign group has urged the government to step up efforts to encourage more job shares and part-time working hours after a poll revealed that nearly three-quarters of civil service jobs advertised were for full-time roles.
A review of job vacancies across departments by the lobby group Working Families revealed that 71% of civil service jobs were advertised as full-time positions. The equality campaigner urged the civil service to provide more part-time hours and to open up the civil service-wide job-share register to outside recruits, or it risked missing out on key talent.
Sarah Jackson, chief executive of Working Families, said: “Job design and advertising that focus on full-time hours limits the opportunities for parents seeking quality part-time or job-share roles. Even a good employer like the civil service can do more to widen the pool of talent from which it recruits.”
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During the review, many departments were found to have little knowledge of how job-sharing worked in practice, and some of the roles advertised as full-time did not clearly state whether part-time hours would be available.
The report, We need to talk about hours. Job advertising in the civil service, was conducted using a secret shopper exercise to establish how easy it was for individuals seeking a part-time or job-share role within government.
