Working women are still missing out on work-life balance because they
continue to carry the main burden of domestic duties at home.
New research from The Work Foundation, in association with Employers for
Work-Life Balance (EfWLB), shows that, for many women, when one working day
finishes, another begins at home.
The Work Foundation report, About Time for Change, finds employers are
responding to the case for better work-life balance – three out of five people
say their employer would support all employees, with or without children, being
able to work flexibly.
But, the report shows that within the home, women still shoulder the greater
share of domestic responsibility.
They are more than three-and-a-half times more likely than men to report
that they do most of the household tasks themselves, and over 12 times more
likely to report they do most of the childcare.
However, the report, based on a survey of 500 respondents, shows couples
whose salaries and career priorities were equally matched tended to share
domestic responsibilities more evenly.
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Will Hutton, chief executive of The Work Foundation said: "This
[work-life balance] is not just about civil society, individual sanity or
allowing women to juggle their lives better. It is increasingly relevant to
workplace performance and productivity."
