Friday June 1st celebrates the UN recognised global day of parents. So to us, this is a day where we should all give ourselves a huge pat on the back, Mums, Dads, Grandparents, carers - it's a day to realise all that you manage to achieve with your little ones! WELL DONE!
This is especially true following a half term week...we're all parents too at 9-2-3 and we know that each day doesn't always go to plan...you've booked the time off work, but somehow return back feeling more exhausted than when you turned on your out-of-office!
According to the Office for National Statistics, approximately 57% of all working households in the UK are home to at least one dependent child, aged 15 or under, which makes you realise just how challenging taking time off with little ones can become (let's not even think about the summer holiday break...yet)!
With a growing awareness of flexible working, we hope that 9-5, 5 days a week will soon be a thing of the past. Although it still feels a long way off, more and more companies and employers are beginning to see the first-hand benefits that flexible working can bring to the table. As part of the #fortheloveofflex campaign we've been running, it's clear through our video testimonials from placed candidates and businesses, that flexible working can bring an increase in sales, employee happiness and loyalty.
An article from Human Results showcases some fantastic ways of how companies are implementing this working practice and making it easier to balance work with the never-ending juggle of childcare. Most notably, we have seen brilliant results from some of the large financial companies such as Deloitte and NatWest Markets who are offering returner programmes, all of which offer flexible roles once graduated and heaps of support along the way to ease you back to the workplace.
Shared parental leave has also been a hot topic of conversation - in this article from The Conversation, it highlights that 'Motherhood is the key reason that the gender pay gap exists' and suggests that flexible working is one way to tackle this through allowing Fathers to spend more time with their children, and in effect allow for 'tag-team' parenting when it comes to balancing work and childcare.
As a mum myself with two small children, taking a career break seemed like the only option for me five years ago. Childcare was too expensive and my role at the time was far too inflexible to ensure that the kids were picked up on time and cared for properly. Now that I'm returning to work, it's so refreshing to see flexible work in action and how companies, large and small are making this possible for parents, instead of losing a huge pool of talent from the workforce.
We're happy to see that things are moving in the right direction. We campaign hard for it and persistently educate the business' we work with to implement this way of thinking for the future - we feel it's working so watch this space.
We currently have lots of lovely flexible roles available - take a look at our jobs page for more details and we'd be more than happy to answer any questions that you may have surrounding any of the roles listed.