Blog
Welcome to our blog where we explore news, policy developments and best practice ideas relating to how parents and carers can fully meet their work and caring responsibilities, and how their employers can best support them.
In the interests of open debate and the exploration of new ideas, any views expressed here may not necessarily represent the formal view of Working Families.
Shared Parental Leave: opportunities, barriers & #sharethejoy campaign
As the Government launches a new drive to raise awareness about Shared Parental Leave, Dr Emma Banister of University of Manchester looks at the issues dogging the flagship gender equality initiative
Grievances do more harm than good
Let’s start with the assumption that early resolution of workplace issues is the best outcome for you and your employer, and legal action is the worst. The purpose of a grievance process is meant to be to resolve concerns, problems or complaints raised by employees. In practice, we find this is often not the case. Unfortunately, a grievance by its nature is usually a criticism of your employer. It is therefore often seen by the employer, rightly or wrongly, as ‘disloyal’ or an ‘attack’ on individuals or the business.
Tackling the problem of childcare
By Helen Norman and Colette Fagan, University of Manchester The UK has one of the highest costs for childcare in the developed world. The average household now spends £11,562 a year on their two year old’s full-time nursery fees or £15,118 a year if they live in London[1] (Harding et al. 2017). Latest figures from…
Towards a better work-life balance; working and caring for a disabled child
Looking back, I don’t know how I did it. A widowed single parent of a disabled child, I was working long hours, running a tribunal appeal against my daughter’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan and her school placement; and running her to numerous therapy and medical appointments that sometimes involved several hours of travel.