Flexible working – whether that be the ability to work different hours, from home or another arrangement – is an in-demand perk in today’s job market. This is particularly true for one demographic: parents.
Having children should not be a barrier to progression, and yet all too often, parents see their careers stall after welcoming their bundles of joy. In a survey by workingmums.co.uk, 57% of mums said their career has not progressed since having children.
This affects the gender pay gap – the pay differentiation between women and men – too. Generally, workers see their salaries rise year on year as they gain more experience, but research shows that part-time workers miss out on these increases. The vast majority of part-time workers are women, especially mothers of young children. By the time their first child is 20 years old, mothers earn about 30% less per hour than similarly educated fathers.
So how does your organisation support working parents, and help to reduce your gender pay gap (the reporting of which is now a legal obligation for companies with 250+ employees) in the process? By offering flexible working arrangements.
Offering flexible working is a serious competitive advantage when it comes to hiring talented parents. 29% of working mums have had a formal flexible working request turned down, with 42% of these saying they had left their job as a result. 31% of surveyed mums said they would not have accepted their current job if there was no flexible working. The figures are similar for dads.
To attract candidates that are parents, make it clear in your job advertisements that you are willing to support flexible working. It may help to define what you mean by this: later starting times, earlier leaving times, home working from 3pm – whatever works for your organisation. You should also open discussions about flexible working in interviews, helping candidates to feel at ease when it comes to proposing their own arrangement.
Gillian Nissim, founder of workingmums.co.uk, offers this advice:
“Employers need to think more creatively to compete with the start-ups that have been selling themselves on their flexibility. That might mean thinking of job redesigns or agile hiring policies where any manager who puts forward a job advert that lacks flexibility is challenged as to why.”
The team of experts at Optimum Recruitment are always willing to speak to any hiring manager about making your job roles and advertisements more inclusive in order to attract the best talent. If you have any questions about developing flexible roles in your organisation, please do get in touch.
Posted By: Abigail Simpson
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