Low-paid parents are being punished for flexible working, says TUC

Forty-seven per cent of young parents surveyed by the UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) admitted to struggling to manage the conflicting demands of work and childcare—29% had dipped into their holiday allowance and sick leave in order to look after their children over the last year.

Forty-two per cent of the 1,000 survey respondents felt they had been punished by their boss for asking for greater flexibility, citing examples of being given fewer hours, worse shifts, or actually losing their jobs.

The TUC survey also revealed that more than half of mums and dads working in low-paid sectors, such as retail, hospitality, and social care, do not know their employment rights. Every employee in the UK has the statutory right to request flexible working after 26 weeks of employment, and employers must have a sound business reason for rejecting any request.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady says that "Many parents fear losing shifts, taking unpaid leave or being viewed badly at work if they need time off to look after their kids.” O’Grady, among other points, calls for workers to be told their shift patterns at least one month in advance, to assist in planning their childcare: "It’s a nightmare to plan childcare when your boss changes your shifts at the drop of a hat, and you never work the same weekly hours twice.” 

Ben Wilson, Executive Director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has called for an overhaul of company cultures to make flexible working the norm: "We have been calling for all jobs to be advertised as available for flexible working in order to remove the barriers people, particularly parents, face to increased pay and fulfilling careers."

Michael Beckmann has explored working-time autonomy as a flexible working management practice for IZA World of Labor. He notes that as part of a system of family-friendly workplace practices that emphasize coordinating private and work life, working-time autonomy—allowing workers to control their work hours—may not improve productivity, but can contribute to a firm’s objectives through retaining core workers, recruiting new staff, and saving on wage costs.

View more articles on personnel economics and how childcare policy affects female labor supply

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