Thinktank sounds warning over female workers stuck on ‘mummy track’
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Version 0 of 1. UK employers are losing out when it comes to getting and keeping the best staff, by failing to allow their female workers to vary their start times or even take an hour or two off at short notice, a report from the IPPR thinktank has warned. The report reveals that two-thirds (64%) of working women in the UK are not allowed by their bosses to vary their starting and finishing times, while a quarter (25%) say they find it difficult to take one or two hours off work in an emergency to attend to personal matters. The report – Women and Flexible Working – is the first in a series of new studies supported by the global JP Morgan Chase New Skills at Work initiative – a three-year, $30m (£19m) scheme designed to improve labour market infrastructure and develop the global skilled workforce. The European component of the programme was announced in April, with the IPPR as the lead research partner. The report uses statistics from the EU labour force survey and the European working conditions survey. It says the UK has a particular problem with a lack of part-time work in highly skilled jobs for highly qualified workers. But it also says employers’ lack of flexibility in full-time jobs is excluding highly qualified mothers from full-time work, many of whom are on a “mummy track” – stuck in part-time jobs below their skill level. Simply expanding part-time work will not stop employers missing out on the brightest and best employees, it says. While the proportion of female workers in the UK who can determine their own hours is comparable with other European economies, half as many UK working women (19%) are able to adapt their hours compared with women working in Sweden (41%) and the Netherlands (38%). But this lack of autonomy is detrimental to both employers and employees, the report says. Women who work part-time in the UK are seven times as likely to let care duties dictate their working hours as men working part-time, the research shows. More than two-fifths (42%) of women who work part-time do so primarily to take care of children or disabled adults, compared with 6% of men. Dalia Ben-Galim, IPPR associate director, said: “Employers are missing out on top talent and highly qualified women are working in low-skilled jobs. That’s a missed opportunity for both employers and employees. How work is arranged, and employees’ level of autonomy over working hours, can have a big impact on how well people reconcile paid work with other commitments. “Flexible working in its current reduced-hours form simply isn’t flexible enough. The prevalence of rigid scheduling, especially in low-income jobs, often means that even reduced-hours work is not sufficient for meeting the more spontaneous demands of care-giving.” At the same time, a third of women working part-time in the UK are not happy with the hours they work. A quarter (25%) of women working part-time want to work fewer hours, while more than one in 10 (13%) would prefer more. IPPR’s modelling shows that the net fiscal gain to the Treasury of a five percentage-point increase in the proportion of mothers in full-time work in the UK could be £700m a year in extra taxes and fewer benefit payments. |