Wanted: flexible hours

More than two thirds of mums with young children would return to work if flexible hours were an option, a new survey has found.

The survey of 1,600 mothers also revealed that more than a third of those in employment would spend more time at work if they had better childcare arrangements.

The study, carried out by the social enterprise group Digital Mums and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, estimated that a lack of flexible working arrangements is keeping around 2m women out of employment and depriving the economy of more than ÂŁ62bn a year.

Digital Mums co-founder Kathryn Tyler said, “While for some mums staying at home is a choice, our report shows that for a larger number their hands are tied because of a lack of flexible work options. In today’s highly connected world, there’s simply no need for businesses to stick to an archaic 9-5 desk policy.

“This will not only help mums find rewarding careers that fit their skills and family life; it will help businesses tap into an amazing talent pool and, ultimately, increase output for the economy. We need a societal shift to embrace flexible working as the ‘norm’ and not the exception.”

In 2014 the government passed legislation giving everyone the right to request flexible working hours. Despite this, 60 percent of mothers still do not have access to flexible work.

Unite national officer for equalities Siobhan Endean said that as well as the introduction of a strong regulatory framework to enforce the right to flexible working, changes to the original legislation are also needed.

“The flexible working regulations are fairly limited,” Endean said. “It’s only the right to request flexible working after you’ve worked for your employer for six months. It should be from day one.

“It would also help many people if jobs were advertised as flexible from the get go. In addition, the working patterns of organisations should be more flexible in general.”

Unite is working to ensure that employees who need flexible hours are treated fairly, Endean added.

“Flexible working is an issue best dealt with by companies and trade unions working together through collective bargaining,” she said. “It’s a successful method that also takes the onus off working parents having to make individual requests without knowing whether the company is likely to deal with them sympathetically.”