Tell CBI what you think employers could do for parents to make it easier to balance work and family life? £250 voucher to be won!NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

As part of The Great Business Debate campaign, The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters think employers could do better to make it easier for parents to balance work and family life.

Here’s what CBI say, “The Great Business Debate is a CBI led campaign to help build public confidence in business.

"Only around half of people believe business makes a positive contribution to society and we want to play a part in increasing that figure. We are doing this by:
• Setting out the facts and combatting myths about what business does and the contribution it makes
• Encouraging people to give us their views on business and where it needs to do more
• Providing an opportunity for business to take part in a constructive conversation about what it does and how it does it

"As employees, our experiences of working life have a big impact on our view of business. Companies of all sizes rely on their people for success, and want to make use of the best talents available. But there is an ongoing debate about whether employers are doing enough to ensure parents – and especially mums – are supported to balance their family and work life, without having to sacrifice one for the other. We're sponsoring this discussion with Mumsnetters to hear your views.”

So, what do you think employers could do to make it easier for parents returning to work to find a balance between family life and work? Maybe you’d like more employers to encourage flexible working hours? Or perhaps to prioritise parents when employees request to have annual leave during school holidays? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it!

Everyone who comments on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £250 Love2Shop voucher.

CBI are also hosting a round table event on this topic on Wednesday 26th November in Central London, which will be attended by business leaders and not-for-profit organisations, as well as Justine, our CEO. There are two places reserved for Mumsnetters also. If you’d be interested in attending then please PM me, we will then select two Mumsnetters at random.

Please note: Please be aware your anonymised comments may be re-used by the CBI on their websites, over social media and for broader PR purposes.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Increased trust in employees to WFH, this has a also changed my life and given me the ability to keep my career going whilst still being the main carer and I am home at the key times for the kids.

Flexible hours and the opportunity for working from home (if feasible).

I am a SAHM now, but my previous employers were great. If my DD (only had 1 child then) had an inset day or even the holidays, they didn't mind if she came to work with me. In fact everyone would pitch in with looking after her and I would so the same if someone else bought their child in.

This is a bit rich given that the CBI are always the first to bleat when there's a whiff of better working conditions for employees.

Work should be more flexible for everyone. Preseentism needs to go.

Also childcare costs are extortionate - sorting that coupled with flexible working would make life easier for those parents who want to work (myself included)

Especially mums? There lies your problem. Everyone needs more flexible working. By specifying mums you characterise women as a special group who are asking for special privileges and that's just not in line with how parents manage their working life these days. I recently, while on maternity, interviewed for a promotion. The other two interviewees were men- and both came in from Additional Paternity leave.
The CBI has a long and illustrious history of wailing whenever new legislation is proposed to support family life. You seem to have changed your tune a bit lately but there are huge amounts to be done to redress this.

My employer is pretty good at this, so some lessons from where it is done well:
-de facto approval of flexible working requests unless there is a damn good reason why not. Onus is on manager to make it work
-full connectivity- I can work from pretty much anywhere.
-home working encouraged- we deliberately don't have enough desks
-a very generous period of full paid maternity leave
-we get a small amount of help with childcare costs- not much but it does make a difference - and also ensures huge loyalty as people won't leave unless they can find a salary that covers the difference
-generally encourage focus on outcomes, not the amount of hours you are sat in the office.

Incidentally they also do these things for people who don't have kids but have other things they want to do. For example, we have a couple of elite sportspeople who got heaps of flexibility around the Paralympics.

Oh, and at a policy level- universal childcare. The amount this would contribute to the economy makes this a staggering no-brainer.

Flexible time and the opportunity to work from home more.

There seems to be a resentment that when someone works from home they aren't actually working. I know from experience that this isn't the case.
If anything I got more done at home and I certainly worked longer hours.

Subsidised childcare would be a great help too.

I work in a school which means that I do get the majority of the school holidays at home. However, time term working does mean that your wage is significantly lower then other peoples wages as you only get paid for 39 weeks in the year. Whereas this does mean that I have the time off with the children I don't have the funds to be able to fully support my children with the school trips, residentials etc.
As well as this, my children attend two other schools to me so td days mean that I have to work extra unpaid hours to be able to take the time off to look after them. Employers could be more flexible by paying for staff to attend school plays etc on the odd occasion which would in turn make staff more willing to stay on and cover when work is really busy.
I agree with Macey78 - employers say that they offer flexible working patterns but in reality it is frowned upon and you're made to feel uncomfortable in asking for such a thing.
I used a benefits calculator once to work out how much I would be entitled to if I gave up work completely and I worked out that my DH and I would be better off if I stopped working altogether! I wouldn't do this as I enjoy working however, the system is wrong if it doesn't recognise or assist two working parents.

Flexibility is the main attraction with my job and being able to work from home, not sure I could do it otherwise.

Stopping presenteeism, and a culture of how people are only taking their job seriously if they work stupid hours. This unfairly disadvantages families where there is not a SAHP.

Not just allow men to take extended paternity leave (ie taking 6 months of their family's 12 month total) but start to actively encourage it so that men become just as likely as women to take parental leave. This will end the discrimination women face for most of their working lives just for having a womb.

Encourage flexible working for everyone so that a) mums who need flexible hours aren't seen to be getting special treatment, which causes relentless among child-free colleagues and b) men can't whine that their job "won't let them be flexible" when their partners return to work and ask them to take on a fair share of the school runs, nativity play attendance and time off for sick children. Not to mention a couple being more able to spread out their hours to complement each other and save on childcare costs.

On-site subsidised nurseries. Good for everyone - happy staff who know their children are well-cared for nearby and you get longer hours out of them because they won't need to leave at 5pm on the dot to get to nursery by 6pm.

In summary, recognise that MOST OF YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE PARENTS. Understand what that means in terms of needing felxibility, understanding and support. Appreciate that they are people with lives and families, not drones who print money for you. Don't assume every employee has a SAHP who can deal with the domestic responsibilities. Treat your staff as human beings, with respect and be fair when they come to you with requests that allow them a work-life balance. You'll get happier, more loyal and more productive employees as a result.

relentless? "...which causes resentment among child-free colleagues", obviously.

Longer better Paternity leave is long overdue, let's stop living in the 1950's please!

for both parents:

• on site nursery/day care
• working from home supported
• business sponsoring breakfast, after school clubs, holiday clubs in schools
• trusting employees to use time efficiently
• discouraging culture of long hours at the desk
• flexible hours
• support of moving to part time
• run programmes where parents who have been out of the workplace for a while can build up their confidence to return to work

Working from home
Flexibility around hours
Respect. I have 3 children and have taken just 11 months out to have them (in total) I have probably taken less than 10days because of children's illness yet STILL I'm regarded as less reliable than a man because I'm a single mother. Children have TWO parents. Just because I manage everything does not mean you can look down on me.
Childcare support whether that be onsite nursery, agreement with local nursery/childcare provider for discount/shared places

The above are my priorities. The next would be nice...
Commitment to breastfeeding I.e. Privacy, breaks, fridges etc

Above all I'd like some respect

It would be great if more employers started thinking about how to make working parent-friendly rather than mum-friendly and treated their employees with children as normal rather than an irritation to be dealt with. Trust and treating people like the grown-ups they are are also so important. I've just worked two days from home as my daughter has a vomiting bug. My manager knows full well that I'm not able to do much more than monitor emails with a toddler running around but is flexible with me and in return I went into work once DH got home to put in the hours.

Parent friendly rather than mother friendly please. It's getting quite annoying already.

Trust and respect. Trust that staff who are working flexibly or 'not in the office' are working where ever they've chosen. Respect that they will deliver.

How about cbi doing a focus group with the ft top 10 companies to work for in the various categories and see what is it that they do to tackle this issue?

Nothing better than sharing best practices. These companies have been voted top in the country for a reason or reasons. Best we find out what they are doing so well and share this knowledge!

Happy to help design the focus groups and research methods. It's my job!

I know of several instances where people I know have been made redundant in dubious circumstances whilst on maternity leave and so feel that employers should be more careful in that regard. I am lucky in that my employer is broadly supportive now I have a daughter but there was a complete lack of support on returning to work in not recognising the need to enhance my confidence on returning and I feel more could have been done to help manage the transition.

I work in a manufacturing industry where flexible hours aren't possible but job share would make sense. I would love to be able to work part time but that just isn't an option so I would like to see more job share opportunities.

I think then childcare voucher scheme doesn't go far enough. We got around £100 per month off our childcare costs which was undeniably helpful but given that we still had to find another £650 per month (and our childcare was relatively cheap) a larger tax rebate would have been helpful. I don't know whether that's something employers can do anything about though.

Sixteen years ago , I left a fabulous job at the DTI in Victorai too go on Maternity leave with my first baby ... but rapidly followed baby two then baby three .... and I never returned .... but now after a rather lengthy 16 year break I find things have greatly changed ... apparently long gone are the 40 hour contracts .... great benefits etc ... sadly gone are my days of wanting to and being able to work around the clock , as well as work every bank holiday going to obtain double pay AND a day off in lieu ( remember those unappreciated perks ??? ) but despite looking for a full time job that I can drop my three children off at school then work 10 - 5 and yes only Mon - Fri ..... I cant find anything .. so from prospective employers I would love the following ....

1: A full time 37 - 40 hrs per week
2: Flexi hours to enable me to take the children to school.
3: The ability not to work Sat and Sun
4: Not having to be fully flexible where working hours are concerned .

This is all that i need and am looking for ...

Flexible working hours and the ability to work from home especially if your commute is as long as 1.5 hours.

There is a huge untapped skilled workforce of mothers, who are experienced, professional women unable to work. I know this because I am one. A top university graduate with years of industry experience in one of the biggest global companies in its sector. So many of us have so much to contribute, given the right opportunities.

I need to work during school or school wrap around care hours, but I can continue working from home. The cost of holiday care often makes year round work prohibitive, but more employers could seek discounts or use joint schemes. I need sufficient flexibility to meet all of my commitments, but I will never neglect my responsibilities at work. I need to be trusted that I am fully qualified, focused and able to do my job, regardless of the fact that I am a mother. I need to feel as equally respected as the millions of working fathers out there, who never have their competency or commitment questioned.

Flexible working, where you can take time off for assemblies etc and make up the time elsewhere

Leading from the top and flexibility. Thankfully one of our directors is often in a after or leaves earlier to do the school run, setting a clear precedent that this is acceptable.

Flexibility, especially about temporary changes to hours in school times, and not judging us because we are part time. I am a professional individual in a managerial position. I am aware that it has been said, that I am "only part time" so wouldn't know the answer to an issue, when in fact I was the only person who could help. Just because I opt to work 0.6 of a week does not make me any less competent.

In fact I would suggest that I work harder in my role than my full time equivalents sometimes and turn down the "nice to do" opportunities in favour of getting as much done of the day job as possible. So my advice to employers would be to ensure that development opportunities remain open to part time workers.

give us our wages - but let us stay at home lol - No sometimes a kind word of understanding when we run a little late would be good