New research conducted by not only pink and blue reveals that today’s working parents are struggling to balance childcare with their careers and their employers are doing very little to lighten the load.
The report ‘Balancing Childcare and Careers: How Businesses Can Support Parents in the Workplace’ found that parents feel they cannot be open about their parenthood at work with over 50% of surveyed parents having had to lie about or make up an excuse for being out of the office due to child related issues.
Further highlights of the new research reveal:
● 57% of parents didn’t know what their company’s shared parental leave policy was.
● 45% of parents are no longer at the same workplace as when they had their most recent child.
● 50% of parents who are no longer at the same workplace as when they had their most recent child left in search of a more parent-friendly working environment.
● 47% of parents had received neutral or negative responses from HR when disclosing their pregnancy.
● 80% of parents said that a more supportive working environment would have encouraged them to stay at their company for longer.
● 91% of parents said flexible working was the most important feature of a parent-friendly working culture.
● 62% of Mums took on most child-caring responsibilities compared to just 15% of Dads.
● 53% of parents have had to lie about or make up an excuse for being out of the office due to child related issues not only pink and blue are on a mission to help parents in the workplace by working with businesses to create parent friendly cultures.
In countries such as Sweden and Finland, balancing career and family life is a priority, and many companies are going the extra mile to make their workplaces more parent-friendly on top of the generous shared parental leave policies already put in place by the government. This new research by not only pink and blue confirms that British companies simply aren’t doing enough to support their parent workforce and create a comfortable and nurturing working environment.
This is what not only pink and blue CEO and Founder, Clare Willetts, had to say about it: “The current maternity and paternity leave policies in the UK reinforce traditional gender stereotypes where the mother is expected to adopt a homemaking role while the father returns to work. These stereotypes have been introduced to us from a young age – they follow us from childhood to adulthood, impacting career aspirations, parental leave structures, the gender pay gap, and the mental load. We know that by impacting businesses and creating parent-friendly cultures we can really drive change for all parents and specifically impact the opportunities for Dads to have a greater part in parenting and Mums to have more opportunities to continue and grow their careers.
This, in turn, will have a positive effect on our future generations, challenging some of the most deep-seated stereotypes that they are taught from birth.”
