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
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW 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
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW 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+

Flexible workingRecruitment & retention

Women and the coalition government

by Personnel Today 8 Jul 2010
by Personnel Today 8 Jul 2010

Could working mothers be the ultimate beneficiaries of the coalition government’s policies and recent emergency Budget? Will the desire to create greater flexibility in the labour market make the male-dominated breadwinner model of working nine to five a thing of the past? While this view obviously involves looking at the longer term impact of labour market changes, a combination of the coalition’s policies may push flexible working into the mainstream of working life.


Of course to be meaningful, quality flexible working is essential, rather than more low-paid jobs in cleaning, catering and care. Good quality flexible working would enormously improve the choice of working mothers who struggle to combine home life with a traditional model, which doesn’t take school hours into account. There is obviously a demand for flexible jobs if recruitment websites like Workingmums.co.uk are anything to go by. With almost 90,000 applicants registered on the site, it seems unlikely that the market alone will respond to this demand and supply the roles.


Quality flexible working should also be distinguished from the temporary reduced hours arrangements introduced by a number of private sector employers in response to the recession. A government report published in March 2010 was ambivalent about a positive link between the recession and quality part-time work.


Flexible working proposals


The new government is certainly keen to promote flexible working, although its interest appears to be driven by the cost savings achieved by getting more people from welfare into work. A focus on flexible working could help distribute work around a greater number of people, but encouraging some mothers back to work is unlikely to give the government the full cost savings it seeks to achieve.


How realistic is the coalition’s proposal to require single mothers to return to work when their youngest child reaches school age, if work and childcare cannot fit together?


Similarly, the proposals to abolish the default retirement age and raise the state pension age will lead to an increase in the working population. Working nine to five, five days a week does not seem realistic for every 66 year old. Again, it seems like part-time working or more flexible forms would suit this section of the workforce.


With a specific commitment in the coalition agreement that the government will widen the right to request flexible working to everyone, demand for flexible working patterns is only set to increase. It is interesting to see how far this debate has moved – the CBI recently said it is “ready to work with the government to introduce greater flexibility in the sharing of caring responsibilities between parents.”


To be effective, jobs will need to be available to suit various different working requirements. But how will employers deliver this? It is naïve to think working culture will change overnight. If the government is truly committed, it will need to invest and incentivise employers to change their practices.


Government grants


In 2007, the last government offered grants worth £500,000 in all to 13 employers under their Quality Part-Time Work Initiative. Royal Mail received a £25,000 grant from the government, to which it added a further £30,000 to help recruit female managers in operational roles where shift systems had previously operated as a blocker to female applicants. After reviewing the roles, they confirmed a number of the jobs could have flexible hours of between 16-24 hours over three or five days. Nine female and eight male part-time managers were appointed. Case studies like this show how money, planning and good communications can lead to quality flexible working. The strapline in their advertisement was: ‘Spend more time with people you care about’.


Grants like this to pay for the additional costs involved in job sharing, or training programmes to help women back into the workforce after lengthy absences for childcare, are essential if the government wants the private sector to challenge the norm and explore different ways of working.


Lessons could be learnt from another area where legislation was accompanied by financial support. It was not until the Access to Work grant scheme, which contributes towards the costs of reasonable adjustments, became well known, that many employers – particularly smaller ones – changed their attitudes towards employing disabled people.


One possible counter argument to targeting women within the workforce will also be removed when the Equality Act 2010 comes into force in October. The scope for employers to take positive action will significantly increase to cover the types of incentives previously mentioned, and hopefully the government will realise more grant-funded schemes like the Quality Part-Time Work Initiative will be needed if flexibility really is to be the future.


Valerie Dougan, professional support lawyer, the employment team at Dundas & Wilson

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Skills gap could hamper business efforts to capitalise on economic recovery
next post
Author interview: Vineet Nayar

You may also like

One in five employers planning ‘no jab no...

19 May 2022

Nurses leaving due to pressure and workplace culture

18 May 2022

Number of working people with disability up 1.3...

17 May 2022

Wages fall 1.2% behind inflation as cost of...

17 May 2022

Lack of flexibility pushes half of women to...

16 May 2022

EasyJet joins battle for cabin crew with £1,000...

16 May 2022

Rees-Mogg under fire from civil service leader over...

13 May 2022

Tesco to pioneer office space in local stores

13 May 2022

How to build a compelling talent attraction strategy...

12 May 2022

Queen’s Speech: absence of employment bill leaves organisations...

10 May 2022
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...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 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 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
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW 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+