Media Release - 8 June 2009

Flexibility and Child Care Still Barriers for Working Parents

On a regular basis, CareerMums taps into the opinions of our users to understand topical issues such as workplace flexibility, parental leave, child care, and Federal Government policies for working parents. Our recent survey received just over 200 responses.

Two major issues that continue to surface in our regular surveys are the cost of child care and the inflexible nature of the workforce.

“The child care rebate is somewhat hitting the mark, but the fundamental issue remains that the Government has no control over pricing. Women now account for half of the workplace so the Government needs to review more long term solutions to this problem.“, said Kate Sykes, founder of www.careermums.com.au.

“Furthermore, workplace flexibility continues to be a challenging offering for businesses despite increasing case studies of businesses benefiting from a flexible workforce. Senior management and managers in general continue to be a roadblock.”

Around 33% of respondents have been affected by the economic downturn – either by considering a return to work sooner than expected, being given reduced hours at work or they have been made redundant.

View the responses in more detail below. For more information, contact Kate Sykes on (02) 6161 0128 or kate@careermums.com.au

Workplace flexibility

• Nearly 60% of respondents stated that their current/previous employer did not have a flexible work or parental leave policy, or they were unaware that these policies existed.
• When respondents were asked to describe their current/previous employer when it came to flexible work arrangements:
  • 35% of respondents said that working flexibly for their current/previous employer depended on their manager.
  • 24% said that their employer embraced working flexibly.
  • 16% of respondents identified that their workplace did not offer flexible work arrangements.
  • 11% stated that senior management did not promote working flexibly so it was not encouraged.

Over 75% of respondents did not know about the Government’s new National Employment Standards (introduced in Jan 2010) which include the option for parents caring for children under school age to request flexible work arrangements.

General Barriers and Triggers for Parents Returning to Work

• The top 3 barriers for parents returning to work are lack of flexible jobs (90%), cost of child care (57%) and a general lack of self confidence (26%).

• The main reasons for returning to work include income (85%), social interaction (50%), maintain skills (48%) and career aspirations (38%).

Child Care Rebate

• Around 55% of respondents stated that the 50 per cent child care rebate has made no difference to their plans to return to work or work more hours.  Over 40% said that the rebate made some difference or a huge difference in either returning to work or working more hours. 

Paid Parental Leave

• 90% of respondents believe that the Federal Government funded paid parental leave (due in November 2011) is an important employment entitlement.

Impact of the Economic Downturn for Parents

• 28% of respondents believe that the economic downturn will not affect their employment – so they expect to be in the same role and do not expect to be made redundant.
• 23% of respondents are considering a return to work sooner than expected.
• 15% indicated that there will be no change to their current plan of being on parental leave or staying at home with their children for an extended period of time.
• Around 10% of respondents have had their work hours reduced or their role has been made redundant.

www.careermums.com.au is Australia's leading careers centre and jobs board for working parents and parents returning to work. CareerMums was launched in 2006 in recognition of the unique needs of working families and has grown to become a cost effective alternative for businesses to complement their current recruitment strategy.  With around 14,000 registered candidates, our audience profile is the following:

• 99% Australian female
• 95% Aged 30-50
• 85% have 1-2 children
• 64% have bachelors degree, masters degree or TAFE qualification
• 94% are looking for flexible employment – (6% full time; 40% part time; 20% job share, 15% contract/temp; 19% school hours)