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There are so many ways in which I agree with the idea of flexible working for parents.
As an empathetic human, many of whose best friends are parents, I can see how hard it is to combine work and children.
And as a woman, who might well come into possession of a child or two of my own, it seems glaringly obvious that things can't continue the way they are, with mothers scaling back careers at their peak and losing income when they need it most.
I am pretty convinced that the minute I do have children I'll leap to the other side of the fence. But for now, as a child-free, tax-paying member of the workforce, I can't help thinking Gordon Brown's new deal for parents means a raw deal for me.
Currently six million workers with children under six are eligible to request flexible working - which covers part-time hours and flexitime. The Government's proposals may include those whose offspring are up to 18, but even if they only take in parents of children under 12, there will be another 2.6 million workers seeking elastic hours. How will most employers ensure this happens? By making things less flexible for the rest of us.
It's not politically correct to voice it, but there is already a workplace apartheid. Just try taking a holiday-at half-term if you don't have school-age children. There are always a dozen more deserving cases ahead of you in the queue. And with Christmas rotas looming I predict yet more bad feeling before the year's out. My family never expect to see me at Christmas - when they do, it's a bonus.
The workplace battlefield used to be divided along gender lines, with men building up resentment for shouldering all those extra sick days and immovable chunks of time off taken by mothers. But now there's some equality in the bedroom, dads share the burden too, and it's those without kids who take up the slack.
Of course, in many ways the argument is academic. Only the public sector and certain progressive workplaces will grant flexible hours. A friend with good employers takes six weeks of leave in the summer and ships the family abroad. The rest of us can only dream of that - short of being signed off with stress.
And with people like me putting off childbearing till later in life, it's not just a case of working late and providing holiday cover for a few years when you're young. For a sizeable chunk of our working lives we get the thin end of the wedge when it comes to taking time off.
It's laudable what Gordon's doing for parents but don't those of us without children deserve a work/ life balance too? After all, when you lot are off spending time with your families, we're the ones left holding the baby.
Reader views (2)
You don't seem to grasp the bigger picture here as the majority don't. We have a decline in the number of babies being born. Coupled with the aging baby boom generation and improved healthcare leading to a large retired population we need an increase in births to support the aging population. The taxes paid by the 18-55 year olds supports the 55-100 year olds. When you are retired I expect you will happily accept public services, street lighting, etc even though you no longer contribute through taxation. Parents in this day and age need to be offered every incentive going to keep the population going, otherwise the only was forward is to import yet more foreign immigrants to look after us in our dotage. People who have children are not the selfish ones here, it those who opt not to that are a financial burden.
- Steph, Ilford, 09/11/2007 11:07
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Let me get this straight. You believe that because you don't have children yourself that benefits for those who do have children, namely allowing them to work different hours, somehow is a "raw" deal for you. Who do you think will be taking care of you (society) when you are old and can't take care of yourself? That's right, other people's children. Which means that raising children is important to everyone in the society, not just the parents of those children.
If you want more time off from work, find an activity (like parenting) that provides long term benefits to the society as a whole and request extra time to perform those duties. For you to ask for the same privileges so that you can essentially spend more time doing things that benefit only yourself is not only selfish but immature.
You sound like a child who claims, "that's not fair". Grow up and think of the bigger picture.
- Bill Bartlett, USA, 08/11/2007 20:44
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