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Growing numbers of men are rejecting the culture of working long hours in favour of spending more time at home, according to a study which reveals a social revolution is taking place as fathers become increasingly involved in bringing up their children .
Men are a substantial and fast-rising proportion of those seeking their employer's permission to work flexi-time, with shorter hours or fewer days. But they face more obstacles to securing a better work-life balance than women.
In the last two years 1.2 million men, around 10 per cent of the male workforce, have asked their employer if they can work flexibly. That is far less than the 2.3 million women (19 per cent) who have sought the same change in their hours, but a big increase on previous years. The figures are from an examination of Britain's changing work habits produced for the TUC by three academics, called Out of time: why Britain needs a new approach to working-time flexibility, which is published this week.
'More men are seeking the right to switch to working flexi-time, a nine-day fortnight or four-day week so they can be around to help their children and partners. And even more would do so if the rules on flexible working were changed so that all workers, not just parents, could do that', said Jo Morris, the TUC's work-life balance policy officer.
Jenny Watson, the chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said the TUC's research confirmed that Britain was in the middle of 'a social revolution in how much time fathers want to spend with their families. More fathers are more concerned to be more involved with their families than ever before. Their desire to do so is moving faster than politicians' attitude to this.
'This is a very private revolution, which often happens within a family that has to make a decision about childcare, and it has gone relatively unnoticed by those making public policy', said Watson.
Despite action by the government to help new parents, paternity leave needed to be extended from its current two-week minimum, and rates of pay for men taking it should be increased to make it easier for them to spend time with a baby, added Watson.
'While some employers are good on flexible working, in other workplaces there can be an assumption that flexible working is for mothers, and fathers can find it not just hard to get but even hard to ask for it, because the prevailing culture is that, if you request it, you aren't serious about your job,' said Watson.
Since April 2003 parents of children under six have been able to ask their employer to vary their hours of work. But employers are only legally obliged to give 'reasonable consideration' to such requests.
The TUC's research shows that four in 10 men are not granted all of the changed hours they have requested compared to three in 10 women, while one in seven men but one in 10 women have their application rejected completely.
'Employers' greater unwillingness to let male workers change their hours is unhealthy because it reinforces the pattern of women with children often being locked into low-hours and low-paid jobs and deepens women's financial dependence on men, such as in their pension prospects in old age,' said Morris. The TUC, EOC and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development want all workers to be able to work flexibly, regardless of whether they have children, as is already the case in some European countries.
Although allowing flexible working leads to happier, more productive employees and greater staff retention, some employers see it as difficult to implement and unfair to other workers.
There is a slow but definite trend towards a woman being the breadwinner in a growing number of households. The number of men choosing not to work at all so that they can look after their home or their children has risen from around 170,000 in 2000 to 198,000 by the end of 2005, according to the Office of National Statistics.
'Tia appreciates being walked to school by her dad'
Andy Simmonds, a gardener-greenkeeper, was allowed to start working flexibly by Bristol City Council so he could walk his daughter Tia, five, to and from school. He earns £300 a month less, but says he and his family are much happier.
'Before Tia started school last September, my wife Kirstin and I agreed someone had to take her to and from school every day. It was clearly best for Tia if one of us did it rather than a childminder, because going to school is a big thing for a five-year-old.
'Kirstin couldn't do it because she works Monday to Thursday as a teacher, which is a very inflexible occupation. So I asked the council if, instead of working from 7.15am to 3.30pm, I could work from 9.30am to 2.30pm from Monday to Thursday during term time and my normal hours during the 13 weeks of school holidays. It operates a work-life balance policy and practises what it preaches.
'Previously, I was out of the house by 6.45am, leaving Kirstin to get Tia and Stan, who is two, fed, dressed and to the childminder by 8am before going to work herself, which was a tall order. Now Kirstin is happier, I'm glad that I have been able to help her, and Tia appreciates being walked to school by her dad.'
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