14 Jan Work life balance
Work- life balance is key to everyone, and whilst a greater number of parents return to work on reduced hours or flexible working should help, parents struggle to keep clear lines between work and home lives.
Whilst increased access to emails out of hours and the ability to log on remotely is great for flexibility, it also increases the pressure to work in the evening. According to The Modern Families index 2020 44% of parents check emails or do work at night.
As a working parent you never know when the next school closure is coming and are on the edge of your seat when illnesses are making their way round nursery or school. It is easy to feel the pressure, frequently from the parent themselves rather than the employer, to work additional hours and out of hours to cover these unforeseen occurrences when they may need to be out of the office.
Offering flexibility to working parents is great but the practicality of this is not as flexible as it first seems. A recent study found out that there has been an increase in employers focusing on work-life balance, but with only 50% of employees saying there employer cared about getting the right work life balance there is still a long way to go.
Figures and details taken from BBC news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51085719
