Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Working from homeChildcareLatest NewsFamily-friendly benefitsFlexible working

Three in five parents work unpaid overtime to cope with workload

by Ashleigh Webber 13 Jan 2020
by Ashleigh Webber 13 Jan 2020 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Flexible working is unable to deliver the work-life balance that parents need, according to a report that finds three in five are working additional, unpaid hours to cope with their workload.

Although working from home has helped with caring responsibilities, 48% of parents said it has increased their workload, the Working Families and Bright Horizons Modern Families Index 2020 claims.

For 52% of parents, working overtime was part of their organisation’s culture. Sixty per cent said it was the only way they could get their work done.

Technology was a particular concern for parents, with 47% stating it had blurred the lines between their work and home life.

Working parents

Champion flexible working to improve parents’ work-life balance

‘Business lacks transparency over parental support’

Why meeting flexible working requests is easier said than done

Jane van Zyl, CEO of work-life balance charity Working Families, said: “The research makes clear that jobs need to be ‘human-sized’.

“Employers who design roles that can be done in their contracted hours and encourage ‘switching off’ will feel the benefit of happier, healthier workers.

“Requiring employers to be proactive about offering flexible and part-time roles could be a catalyst for better job design. This is what we believe will ultimately deliver a better work-life balance for parents and carers.”

For 72% of the 3,090 working parents surveyed, staying in “work mode” during the evenings was making them feel stressed. Fifty-four per cent said it led to arguments with their children and 57% said it caused arguments with their partner.

This is likely to affect employers’ ability to retain staff, as 16% who regularly worked extra hours  planned to change jobs, compared with 11% who did not work additional hours.

“The tide is slowly turning in favour of family-friendly workplaces. But many employers could do more to ensure they are retaining talent and minimising attrition,” said Denise Priest, director of employer partnerships at childcare provider Bright Horizons.

“Stress and burnout are frequent dangers, especially as technology blurs the boundaries between home and work. Technology can be a wonderful enabler, but when it means employees don’t feel they can switch off in the evenings and weekends, inevitably family life suffers.”

Despite these findings, more parents felt flexible working was possible in their organisation than found in previous surveys. Fifty-one per cent felt it was a “genuine option” for women and 46% said the same for men, compared to 44% who said it was an option for both men and women in 2015.

However, only 55% said they worked flexibly, compared to 58% in 2015.

Senior managers and directors were more likely to be able to work flexibly (71%) than parents in junior-level roles (48%). More than three in five parents earning over £50,000 worked flexibly, compared with just two in five earning £15-20,000.

To better support working parents, the report recommends that:

  • The government makes it mandatory for employers to be transparent about flexible working, parental leave and pay policies and advertise vacancies on a flexible basis
  • An additional, individual non-transferable entitlement to 12 weeks of leave and pay is introduced for fathers and partners to spend time with their new child
  • The government ensures that it pays to work once childcare costs are covered
  • Employers publish their family-friendly working policies
  • Employers manage technology so that it supports rather than inhibits work-life balance.

Diversity and inclusion opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more Diversity and inclusion jobs

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor of OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Men continue to take top jobs in public life
next post
Six employment law cases that will shape 2020

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Millions leave careers due to lack of flexibility

25 May 2023

Labour policies could include flexible work and right...

15 May 2023

Deloitte and PwC identify lockdown skills deficit among...

5 May 2023

Being punctual is greatly overrated, finds research

5 May 2023

How organisations can add the human touch to...

5 May 2023

Employees prefer flexible bank holiday time off

28 Apr 2023

MPs call for Employment Bill in King’s Speech

21 Apr 2023

JPMorgan Chase tells leaders to spend more time...

13 Apr 2023

Gender pay gap: We need less ‘say’ and...

12 Apr 2023

Non-office workers say flexibility is as important as...

5 Apr 2023

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+