Working parents air concerns over 'backward slide' for family life

A new briefing for Working Families’ #FlexTheUKcampaign, with Wates Group, shows concern from many parents about a backward slide to less flexible work, and a desire to keep the positive changes that the pandemic has brought for their family life. 

It is based on responses to an online You Gov poll carried out between 20-23 May from 1,043 parents of children aged 18 and under, of which 839 have been working during the pandemic

Jane van Zyl, CEO of Working Families, said, ‘This polling sends a strong message to employers that if they want to reach a more diverse talent pool, including from the 13 million working parents in the UK today, they need to be building flexible working into jobs from the start.

‘We are asking managers to focus on the quality of the work being delivered, not on demanding rigid times and places for working. As we work together to figure out our ‘new normal’, one thing is very clear: to go back to old, inflexible ways of working would not just be a bitter blow for many parents, it would make extremely bad business sense.’

Working parents’ experiences of the pandemic

The YouGov polling highlights how mixed experiences have been for working parents over the course of more than 14 months of restrictions and lockdowns.

While most working parents felt supported by their employer to manage their childcare arrangements (for example by changing their working patterns to manage home-schooling and caring responsibilities), a striking one in five working parents (19 per cent) say they did not get any support from their employer to manage the challenges of being a parent during the pandemic.

Having been through a year of disruption and change to work and family life, it’s clear that many parents are keen to retain the positives that have come out of the pandemic as the final restrictions are lifted.

Half of parents that were polled are concerned that moving back to less flexible ways of working after the final restrictions are lifted will have a negative effect on family life – with slightly more women than men expressing concern (53 per cent v 47 per cent). 

The findings also saw that middle class parents were far more likely to be given the chance to work flexibly and report the benefits of it on family life. In contrast, working class parents were less likely to have access to flexible working arrangements and, even when they did, they were less positive about its impact on family life.

Charmaine, a working parent, said, ‘During the pandemic my husband started to work from home for the first time. This meant that he could spend more time with our daughter and help me more around the house. I returned to work after maternity leave and I was also asked to work from home. This made home and family life much easier for us to manage as we both have long commutes to and from work. We worry that as life returns to normal we may be asked to return to the office and this would make managing family life more difficult. We feel it would result in a negative impact on us and our daughter.’

The report calls for:

• Employers to design and advertise jobs as flexible, and actively encourage flexible working as a way to support working parents and enhance wellbeing.
• Government to bring forward their new Employment Bill in 2022 and include a duty on employers to make jobs flexible unless there is a business case not to; and take action against insecure employment practices.

Furlough

The upcoming end of the furlough scheme is also causing concern for a very significant minority of parents, the research found.

For parents who have worked throughout the pandemic, 29 per cent are concerned that their caring responsibilities will put them at higher risk of redundancy once furlough ends. This worry is even more pronounced for women (34 per cent) and working-class parents (35 per cent).

Working Families said the findings highlight how precarious work is for many parents, showing the need for more protections against redundancy to be brought in urgently – particularly for pregnant women and new parents.

Ms van Zyl said, ‘We are seeing, both through this polling and calls to our free legal advice service, a very real concern that parents who have had caring responsibilities through the pandemic will be most vulnerable to redundancy when the furlough scheme ends. It highlights the precarious nature of work for many parents, and the need for better redundancy protections for people with caring responsibilities.’

Flexible jobs

According to the findings, parents overwhelmingly want the Government to intervene to create more flexible jobs (77 per cent), and for employers to use their own initiative to do so (84 per cent).

A clear majority say they would be more likely to apply for a job that’s advertised as flexible than one that’s not in the future (69 per cent).

Ms van Zyl added, ‘Working parents have had a uniquely challenging time over the pandemic – juggling the demands of work with childcare and homeschooling.

‘Our new polling shows that as we move out of those final restrictions, the anxiety isn’t over yet for many working parents. Lifting the final restrictions on our daily lives is of course hugely welcome in so many ways, but this new research shows how critical it is employers manage that transition sensitively, make the wellbeing of their staff teams a priority, and support working parents to keep the gains to family life they have seen through the pandemic.'

David Allen, chief executive of Wates Group, campaign partner for #FlexTheUK, said, 'As a family business Wates is committed to doing everything we can to help colleagues balance their parenting or caring commitments with work. It’s why we were so keen to be involved in the #FlextheUK campaign. In our recent employee survey, 40 per cent of respondents identified as being parents or having caring responsibilities. They told us overwhelmingly that they want the flexibility to manage where and when they work.

'We’ve listened and have responded by producing a set of flexible working principles. They combine some of the positive adaptations we’ve made over the last 15 months and the good habits which have allowed us to collaborate and perform so well in the past. 

'We’re encouraging colleagues right across the business to use the next few months to experiment with different working patterns: to find what works for them; to show us what they want their working life to be like in the future; and to use these new flexibilities to enable our teams to perform at their very best.'