Nearly all working mums rate flexible working as “very important” to them, according to a recent study.
Over three quarters of the 1,677 women surveyed said they needed flexible jobs.
When asked what made a family friendly employer, offering flexible hours for full time jobs came out top at 85%, just ahead of offering some working at home for full time jobs. Offering part time work and flexibility around child illness or school holidays came next, followed by support for childcare. Way down the list came extended maternity pay, with just under a third considering this a sign of a family friendly employer.
Despite their desire for flexible work, there was little change from last year in the number of women saying they had been forced to take a career break due to problems around finding work that fits in with their family life. Thirteen per cent had taken time out of their career because they couldn’t juggle work and family life or felt their job lacked the flexibility they needed.
45% of women said they had considered setting up their own business as a way around the flexibility problem, showing that employers who miss out on the experience and skills of working mums could risk losing them.
There were far fewer working mums working full time this year. Only 24% worked full time and 60% had part-time jobs. Many women had taken less challenging jobs in order to get the flexibility they required. Moreover, more than half would accept a less well paid job in return for flexibility with 40% prepared to consider this option.
There were still many women who didn’t know about the extension of flexible working to parents of children under 16 – 32% said they had no idea about this – and 64% didn’t know that they are entitled to up to 10 'Keeping In Touch' Days during their maternity leave so they can go into the office and get updated on developments. Only 11% actually used KIT Days.
Women are also reluctant to discuss flexible working options before going on maternity leave with nearly half saying they hadn’t had a chat with their employer about returning to work flexibly prior to going on maternity leave.
Nevertheless, 83% said having some flexibility in their job would help them to return. Almost half of women said they would favour a gradual return, with their hours increasing over time as they settled back into work. Nearly 80% said having some degree of homeworking would help them to work full time.
Of those mums who were not working, 72% felt the lack of flexibility was a barrier to them going back to work.
 72% felt lack of available flexible jobs was a problem
Over half [55%] found childcare costs an impediment
30% rated lack of confidence as a big issue.
However, 71% of those in work felt their work was fairly or very flexible. The main reason for going back to work was money although 72% wanted to work for their own self esteem and 83% enjoyed their job.
September 2009
1,677 people were surveyed in July 2009 by WorkingMums:
• 99% were women
• 33% were between 25 – 34 years old, 47% were between 35-44 years old, and 20% were either below 24 or above 45.
• 56% of have 2 or more children; 51% have at least one child under 5, the other half having at least one child over 5 and under 16.
• 45% of the respondents are currently working – the rest are not working at the moment, including those on maternity leave
• 77% are currently looking for a new job opportunity
• 68% of these are looking to start within the next 2 months. | 
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
