"A woman knows all about her children. She knows
about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favourite
foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of
some short people living in the house."
Well, so it said on one of those humorous lists
that my daughter forwards to me by email. Leaving aside its complete inappropriateness
for my own active new-man-style parenting, of course, I can agree that
it may contain some kernel of truth about the male condition in
general. A man's
place is at work....isn't it?
Modern notions of equality, in fact, hold that a
woman's place can equally be at work. But, according to Dad's Army:
The case for father-friendly workplaces, a new report by Richard
Reeves of the Work Foundation, while women have largely won the
arguments for family-friendly policies and practices in the workplace,
neither men nor their employers have yet got to grips with the dual
roles required by fatherhood and career.
A generational thing
The report argues that there is a generational
divide in the workplace:
"..the one between fathers in their fifties and
those in, say, their thirties. Most of the former group have wives who
stayed at home to raise their kids, at least in their pre-school
years. Most of the latter group have wives or partners who work."
And, it is argued, the "dinosaur dads" are the
ones who currently occupy the most senior positions, and "have a
disproportionate influence on workplace cultures".
"True," writes Reeves, "Many of them have woken
up to the fact that they now employ mothers. But few have paid
attention to the fact that they now employ a different kind of
father".
The modern father generally wants to be more actively involved at
home. So do his children, and so does his partner. It is the
expectations of the male role at work that gets in the way.
For the working man who wants also to be an
active and involved father, the culture that takes its cue from the
more traditional division of labour has to be changed. Individuals and
families are paying a price - and so are employers. By enforcing
unnecessarily inflexible working conditions, they demotivate fathers,
put them under additional pressure, and risk losing many of their best
employees.
Stealth parenting
The report provides evidence of fathers'
reluctance to admit to parenting responsibilities. It can make them
disinclined to ask for more flexible working practices. And it often
drives them to lie rather than take time out for parenting purposes.
Men "lack the tools and language" to ask for flexible work.
The report notes that men want greater
flexibility in their hours, and more control over them. Women often
negotiate larger chunks of time out from work - via part-time work and
term-time working, which generally men don't go for.
We also have noted that so far the majority of
home-based teleworkers are men (see our article on
Telework:
Who's doing it and why). I wonder how many of them have
cited family reasons as the main reason for doing so? Generally, one
expects that decisions for home-based working are built around the
business case focusing on cost savings and productivity, not around
family-friendly issues.
There is also the issue of career progression.
Opting out of evening meetings, or being unable to stay late at the
office can be death to a career. If you won't do it, the next man - or
woman - will.
A high profile example can make all the
difference. Like the chief executive who has his daughter's school
performance written immovably into the staff calendar, or a senior
manager setting a lead by taking paternity leave.
Five steps to father-friendliness
As always, the key question is "What is to be done?" The report
offers organisations a five-step approach to becoming effectively
father-friendly:
- A "Daddy Diagnostic" - find out the
issues that fathers are dealing with, and audit existing HR policies
- Paternity leave - introduce provision
that exceeds the statutory minimum to be introduced in April 2003
- Time sovereignty - increase working
hours flexibility, giving people more control over the hours they
work: "More than any single policy change, the modernisation of
company attitudes towards working time will help working parents."
- Culture shift - taking responsibility
at all levels to change attitudes towards fathering
- Good work - improving the quality of
working life: so less stress and negativity is brought home.
This is an interesting, accessible and
well-researched report, providing plenty of food for thought. At times
you will have to just grimace and bear some clever-clever jauntiness,
ever in search of a memorable phrase - examples include: "the best men
are the pressed men", "we have seen the rise of dual-career couples;
now we need dual-carer couples", and the cringe-worthy "Daddy
diagnostic". The excursions into feminist thinking will be a touch
arcane outside of academic circles, too.
But on the whole, this is a report well worth
reading, as a prelude to action in one's own organisation.
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A few years back there were laments about "a
lack of mothers in the workplace, and a deficit of fathering
in the home". In the meantime, the numbers of
women at workplace has risen so that almost 50% of the
workforce is female. But has the domestic activity of fathers
increased in equal measure? Not according to a
new report, Dad's Army, from the
Work Foundation. It's the regressive attitudes to fathers
at work which is the major obstacle. |
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