Long hours working is the biggest demon for UK families

The UKís long hours culture is damaging peopleís personal lives and reinforcing the gender pay gap, as women juggle paid work with caring for children and older relatives while their partners work the longest hours in Europe, says the TUC today (Thursday) in its submission to the Governmentís consultation on flexible working.

íFairness and flexibilityí, the TUCís contribution to the Governmentís Work and Families: Choice and Flexibility consultation exercise, says that the best way for employees to achieve a better work life balance is for everyone to have the right to work flexibly. It argues that this should be the Governmentís long term aim, but for now the right to ask to reduce or change the way people work should be extended to all carers and parents with children under 18. (The right to request to work flexibly is currently only open to parents with children under six or the parents of disabled children under 18).

The TUC submission says that ending the UK opt-out to the 48 hour week is crucial if parents are to be given greater choice about how to balance their worlds of work and home. It applauds the many new rights for parents introduced by the Government but says these are merely a sticking plaster over a much bigger problem - UK employersí obsession with the need to work long hours.

In addition to tackling the problem of excessive hours, the TUC is also calling for improvements to maternity and paternity leave, and the introduction of paid parental leave: Parents are currently entitled to 13 weeks unpaid parental leave which can be taken in the first five years of their childís life. Few parents (only four per cent have used the leave since it was introduced) can afford to take unpaid leave, especially because it has to be taken in blocks of a week. If parental leave is to be of real use to working mothers and fathers, it must be paid and be able to be taken for a day or half day as the need arises. Parents should also be able to take parental leave until their children are teenagers. The Government has raised the idea that in future a mother might be able to transfer some of her maternity leave entitlement to her partner so that he is at home while she goes back to work. A better suggestion would be to make paternity leave earnings-related (it is currently paid at a flat rate of 100) and to allow new fathers to take it at times other than in the two weeks immediately after the birth. A recent CIPD survey suggested that the low level of payment means too few fathers currently take advantage of the leave but that four in five would take it if paternity pay were increased to 90 per cent of earnings.

Despite recent improvements in maternity pay, mothers in the UK get less money than most new mothers across Europe. This means many women return to work far sooner than they would prefer simply because they cannot afford to stay off for longer. Increasing maternity pay to 100 per cent of earnings in the first six weeks (as opposed to the current 90 per cent) would help boost household income and give mothers a greater degree of choice about when to go back. More needs to be invested in childcare. Despite various Government initiatives, there is still only one childcare place for every five children under the age of eight. A lack of childcare choice reduces parentsí flexibility and forces many couples into a íshift-parentingí system where one stays at home while the other works and vice versa. This is not good for parents or children. Although four fifths (80 per cent) of parents asking their employers for a change in the way they work are able to do so, many experience increased workloads or demotion as a result. The law needs to be strengthened so that employers who turn down flexible working requests can only do so if there is a genuine reason, and then must put their case in writing. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: The business benefits of flexible working are there for all to see. Apart from the obvious impact on the individual parent, who feels less stressed and more in control of their lives, more motivated employees are also more productive ones. Increasingly people are balancing the demands of caring not only for children but also dependent adults, and these workers need support and protection.

But long hours working is the biggest demon facing UK workers. Many fathers find themselves spending extra hours at work when they would really rather be at home, which in turn forces their partners to reduce their hours and pay to run the home and look after children. A better work/life balance where men and women could spend more time with their families and be less stressed at work would be in everyoneís interest.