The legacy of lockdown could be a game-changer in the battle to secure equal opportunities for women at work.
Kate Wyatt, Partner in our Employment team, believes that working from home - and balancing family demands - during the Covid-19 pandemic has proven that flexible working is not a barrier to success. Employers will find it harder to refuse reasonable requests for flexible working, proportionately benefitting women more.
Kate shared her hopes for the positive opportunities that recent working circumstances will bring in the wake of International Women’s Day (Monday 8 March 2021), which highlighted the global mission to forge inclusive work cultures where women’s careers thrive.
Kate said: “Despite the negative impacts of the pandemic, my hope is that the expansion in flexible home working driven by Covid-19 restrictions will bring a real opportunity to break down barriers to success for women in the post-pandemic workplace.”
"Mums are statistically more likely to take the lead on childcare in families. That has far too often been at the cost of their careers because they have found it difficult to work around those demands," she believes.
But she added: “Lockdown - particularly working from home and home schooling - has proven that society is willing to be more flexible. People have adapted their hours to meet family demands while making a success of their work at the same time.
“This should be an eye-opener for employers in attracting and retaining the best people for the job, especially for those where work can be done flexibly. Nine-to-five need not be the norm.
“It should also make it easier for women and men to make successful flexible working requests, especially where they have proven to be a success during lockdown.”
Ms Wyatt also suspects that the Covid-induced awakening around working lives will lead to more equality in the home, proving that more dads can also work flexibly to support their families, opening opportunities for their partners.
“The responsibility of day-to-day childcare in families should shift towards something more equal in terms of gender balance,” she added.
“I expect we will see more flexible working requests from men, both as we look towards a home-office working hybrid, but also because more have seen that it is possible to plan work demands around school drop-off and pick-ups. Flexibility is as relevant to men as it is women.
“Employers are well advised to carefully consider all reasonable requests for flexible working.”
Research published by the UK Government on Friday 5 March 2021 showed that offering flexible working explicitly in job ads would increase applications by up to 30% - creating up to 174,000 flexible jobs in the UK economy every year.
With more people working flexibly due to Covid, Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss said it is time to normalise it across the country. She believes the move will boost employment in areas away from major cities and help turbocharge opportunities for women – who are twice as likely as men to work flexibly.
This article originally appeared in the Courier on Wednesday 17 March 2021.
