The Government is to extend flexible working rights to parents of older children from next April, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Wednesday.
Currently only parents of children under six and children with disabilities are allowed to request flexible working. An independent review on flexible working by Imelda Walsh, human resources head of Sainsbury's, recommended on Thursday that the right should be extended to all parents of children under 16.
The Government will now put the recommendations out for consultation.
Speaking after the review's results were published, Business Secretary John Hutton said: "This is an excellent report that will give a big boost to busy parents who need more help balancing work and family life. It can also help employers who often find they get the best out of mums and dads when they allow them to work flexibly.
"It is important that employers retain control over deciding whether it suits their business to allow people to work flexibly, but extending the right to request to parents of older children will allow families to take priority when decisions are made.
"Women and Equalities Minister Harriet Harman said: "Families are the framework of our lives. Parents want both to earn a living and do the best they can in bringing up their children, but need more flexibility at work."
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Working mums do 54.6 hours a week on top of their job, says study
Stay at home mums would earn a salary of US$117,000 a year if all the roles they do unpaid were taken into account as well as overtime, an annual survey has found.
According to salary.com, a firm specialising in compensation, most of this “salary” is due to overtime. It survey of 18,000 mothers found stay at home mothers worked on average 94.4 hours a week. Working mums put in 54.6 hours a week on top of their external job. The roles mothers fulfilled included ranged from housekeeper to teacher to psychologist and chief executive officer.
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Quebec faces nursing crisis as women desert public sector for flexible work
Quebec faces a nursing “catastrophe” unless it is prepared to offer more flexible working conditions, a survey finds.
As the baby boomer generation nears retirement age, the survey says many of those left are opting to work in the private sector where they are more likely to find family friendly hours as well as increased pay.
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'Women won't break pay gap unless they work longer hours'
Women won’t close the pay equity gap until they are prepared to work longer hours, says an Australian academic.
Mark Wooden, a social researcher at the University of Melbourne, says men earn on average 15% more than women in Australia because they work longer hours.
Meanwhile, a report by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency found that more women were needed in the IT industry and that offering more flexible working is key to attracting them into the profession.
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National Work from Home Day held this week
Thursday was National Work from Home Day.
This is the second year that Work Wise, a charity set up to promote flexible options such as home working, has used the day to campaign for companies to allow their staff to work more from home.
It says the benefits are enormous in terms of staff motivation, decreasing congestion, improving the environment and increasing staff retention.
A recent survey by Workingmums.co.uk of over 600 mothers shows flexibility is the key benefit working mothers value, with 55% preferring to work from home. Only 6% said it did not appeal to them. However 39% said they would like to work from home some of the time, indicating that flexibility is key.
Gillian Nissim, founder of Workingmums.co.uk, said: "Our feedback shows working mums are very keen to work, are highly skilled and welcome the kind of flexibility that working from home affords. We are working with employers to promote flexible working options that benefit both parents and companies.
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