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.”
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.
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