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UK England--Oct 2009--A new study reveals that over a third of working parents (34%) say that they don’t feel able to exercise their legal right to request
The research, conducted by Kleeneze in partnership with charity Working Families, asked 2,000* working parents across the UK to describe the pressures work placed on their family life. 64% said that they felt they were letting their children down by failing to strike the right balance and missing key events in their children’s lives. A significant proportion (37%) said that the recession had made the situation worse and that they felt under pressure to work more hours than ever before. The research has been conducted to launch a new campaign to increase awareness of the rights of working parents and to ask employers to look again at their flexible working policies. Sarah Jackson, chief executive of the Working Families charity which aims to help both parents and employers establish family-friendly working practices, comments: “The results of the research highlight that more needs to be done to help working parents carry out their other important job; that of raising their children. “It also suggests that government figures claiming 95% of requests for flexible working are accepted** do not tell the full story about how these rights are exercised in real-life situations, with over a third of parents believing that they don’t even have the right to make a request. “The wider social benefits, as well as the benefits to employers are well documented, and businesses that do offer greater flexibility will be rewarded by greater loyalty and productivity.” This view is endorsed by catalogue company Kleeneze, which reports that 64% of its 10,000 distributors across the UK are working parents who benefit from its offer of total flexibility over working hours. One example is Chrissy Sykes (26), an ex-health and safety assessor from Leicestershire, who now works with Kleeneze on a part-time basis alongside caring for her young son. Chrissy said: “I began working with Kleeneze while on maternity leave in February 2008 to earn some extra income. I had already decided that I would not return to work on a full time basis to allow me to spend time with my son, but, when I found that even working in my old job on a part-time basis really cut into my time with him, I took the decision to give it up altogether and focus on developing my Kleeneze business. “The flexible hours attached to working with Kleeneze mean I can comfortably run my business around caring for my son.” The research also indicates that working dads are worst affected by pressures on family life with 36% feeling they have no flexibility in their working hours, compared to 32% of women workers. Men are also more likely to miss key school events such as parents’ evenings (53% compared to 41% of women), and to feel work makes them distanced from their children (32% compared to 27% of working mothers). To help make parents more aware of their rights and what support exists should they feel unable to make a request for flexible working, Kleeneze and Working Families have produced an advice guide for parents. The guide is available online (www.kleeneze.co.uk/working-families) and will also be delivered to working families across the country by Kleeneze distributors who visit an estimated 2.5 million homes each month. *Survey conducted by OnePoll September 2009 - sample size 2,000. ** Source: Equalities Office. Jeanette havextra@blueyonder.co.uk | ||||||
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