DADS & WORK

MEN BALANCING WORK & FAMILY Breadwinning role remains crucial

Emphasise ‘being there’ for their childrenAspirations to be more involved high

Support role within the family – minimal role during the week Put weekends aside for family life.

About one-third of active parental childcare already carried out by fathers.

Gap in pay between men & women wages Cost of childcare affect fathers’ involvement.

.... BALANCING WORK & FAMILY More involved in childcare when partner has a high

income & working full-time. Fathers regard balancing family and work as

personal responsibility Use informal arrangements with managers.

Expectations and use of family-friendly practices are low

8/10 employers believe family-friendly policies improve recruitment and retentionMixed messages on the overall

cost benefits.

TYPES OF WORKING DAD

FATHER’S INVOLVEMENT IN FAMILY LIFE

ATTITUDE CHANGE WHEN BECOME FATHER You have responsibilities now … You have to feed and

clothe all of them. The job becomes a lot more important. It is not just for yourself

the money, it is for your whole family. You have to shut your mouth more, because you can’t

afford to lose your job. Moving up into management – the whole drive of it is

from being a father. I was more conscientious. Rather than just coming in and

doing the hours and going home, I stepped up a gear.

... BECOMING FATHER I think it’s probably made me concentrate on more things,

because I’ve become more organised and responsible. I think it makes a difference and I don’t spend as much time sitting down and not being as productive as perhaps I could have been.

WORK AS MAIN FOCUS? Nobody ever sat on their deathbed thinking, ‘I wish I

spent more time in the office’. Work is a means to an end.

Work matters less. It’s much easier to switch off. I often take work home on a Friday and then don’t do any of it over the weekend … Weekends are now specifically there for the family.

It’s becoming more of a means to an end now, rather than sort of huge, ambitious career development plan. I still think that’s at the back of my mind because obviously you still want to be providing, but it’s not so focused now as perhaps it was … It’s clearing your desk as quickly as possible so you can get home to be honest.

FATHERS WANT TO WORK I am not sure how I would cope, looking after a child all day if I

had to. I think it would drive you mad, because at the moment even now when we are playing, and you’ve read the same book 12 times, you think can I put the telly on!

We did discuss Tim cutting down his hours but he wasn’t very interested in that. And he felt if he worked four days a week he would get a bit fed up on the day he was at home with our daughter

I don’t know if we gave it any great thought at the time to be honest. I suppose I might be old-fashioned, but I wouldn’t see myself as a person staying at home … I couldn’t imagine being a ‘house father’ myself.

ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT ROLES Mother will alter her working pattern rather than the

father, because women tend to be lower earners. Women who work face double pressure: work career &

family career, whereas assumption is a man will only have primary responsibility for work career

Women are less able to ‘switch off’ even at work. Some suggest working fathers put the family into a ‘box’ when at work, only take it out weekends/ evenings.

CONCLUSIONS / IMPLICATIONS Almost all fathers talk about the importance of ‘being

there’ for their children- how to enable more fathers to be confident about ‘being there’ demanded at short notice (illness) or hard to raise in the workplace (school sports day)?

Practice drives expectations – experience of paternity leave- expectations of what is reasonable depend on paternity leave offered by father’s employer.

... CULTURE

Parental leave - could help bring about a culture where acceptable for fathers to take time off to spend with their family?- fact that it is unpaid means many fathers not even consider it.

Workplace culture - long hours prohibitive for fathers who wish to succeed in job and have childcare responsibilities.

... PRACTICAL Could cheaper childcare benefit families and enable

greater choice of parenting roles? Some fathers suggest courses for new fathers

- acknowledgement that fathers need to learn new skills after birth of child.

Gender gap in pay is key to roles in the home. Men earn more than women on average, encourages traditional parenting roles :mother = carer/ father =breadwinner

DADS IN NEW ZEALANDWays workplaces could help Number of

respondents

Flexible start and finish times 602

Sometimes being able to work from home 566

Flexibility to have time off during the day 538

Support to take parental leave entitlements 473

Less work pressure 439

Giving you access to a phone so you can be in touch with your family 364

More support from senior management for you as a father 355

Providing a school holiday programme 310

Meetings in core work hours 292

Being able to work part time or less hours 288

Senior managers modelling good fathering 284

Less travelling for work 254

Fine as it is 175

Change of shift 58

None of these would help 25

QUESTIONS FOR DADS .....

Can you own up to being a dad who shares the childcare?Is discussion about children and family responsibilities discouraged?

Do you know about legal right to paternity leave?Or have you the right to request flexible work? 

Are you able to take paternity leave, request flexible hours, or take time off in an emergency?

Do you fear that your job or career prospects would be undermined if you took time off to be with your child?

Do you think women are more likely to be allowed time off for family reasons?

Do you think you are have been discriminated against?

QUESTIONS FOR EMPLOYERS .....Do you know how many fathers are employed in your organisation?

Are your flexible working options open to fathers as well as mothers?Does your organisation have a long hours culture?

Have you thought about the effect of long hours at work on the family life of your employees?

Have you examined the modest and inexpensive adjustments to the workplace to ease pressures for fathers?

Do you lead by example - encourage a culture so fathers can use flexible policies to be with their children?

FLEXIBLE WORKING