Flexible working is 'Just as important to men'

Flexible Working is ‘just as important to men’

An article on the business part of the BBC website caught my eye…

"Senior jobs with flexible hours 'get 20% more female applicants"

First thought, awesome.

Second thought, I wonder if there’s anything about men? Because I know men want flexible working too.

Hidden away (a bit too much for my liking) was reference to men - “just as important for men”

Argggh, come on BBC I thought! This is a really important angle - the angle that would make a world of difference to gender equality to the workplace.

So I opened Linkedin and penned this 1300 character post that has got a lot of comments, interaction and views. Click here to join in the conversation.

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POLITE REQUEST

Please can we stop framing flexible working as a female "thing". The world and his dog knows that women have more caring responsibilities, but until we talk about it being a man thing too, we are doomed to pigeon hole genders into cages called caring and breadwinning.

These cages are traps - traps that keep women from achieving their potential in the workplace and men from being the active and involved fathers they don't remember growing up.

We need to release that canary.

BBC Business News article today "Senior jobs with flexible hours 'get 20% more female applicants"

My first thought, well yeah, obviously.

Knowing how hard men find it to ask for flex and part time work - society deem them not to "need" it, fear of being seen as "uncommitted", perceived optionality etc I wondered if there was anything about men.

Yes - the real story -'Just as important to men'

"The study... found many more men also applied for roles when they offered flexible working options, suggesting the issue was "just as important" for them."

This the truly groundbreaking stuff - pre covid!

Men want flexible working and enabling that desire is a key aspect of gender equality at home and at work.

#flexforall #inspiringdads #workingdads

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New title, same story?

The eagle eyed among you will have notice the article title is now different. I was also intrigued that the title of the piece changed twice… from

"Senior jobs with flexible hours 'get 20% more female applicants" to

“Flexible working helps with mum guilt' to

“It’s really hard to progress when working part-time”

Thankfully the BBC dropped the “mum guilt” angle quickly <facepalm>

A great story of increased female recruitment into Senior roles

Now despite my little rant, it’s worth noting that it’s a really good story about Zurich creatively increasing female recuitment into senior roles. As John Adams at DadBlogUk explains

“For Zurich to have increased female recruit in senior roles is brilliant. To have increased the number of women working flexibly in senior roles is better still. To have male and female senior managers working flexibly and encouraging other staff to do the same, that’s Zurich’s real success. I hope other employers will follow suit.”

I just wish the man angle had been explored in greater (any) depth.

and I’m not alone as the 100+ comments illustrate

“Totally agree and I thought the same thing when I read the article this morning. The policy is gender neutral so why can't our thinking be the same?”

“Such an important narrative. I also feel until men are encouraged to take flex working and shared parental leave, women will never truly be able to move forward from this feeling of asking for special treatment, feeling conflicted and that their careers may suffer if they move to flex etc. Flex for all is the only way to truly achieve a sense of equality.”

“Totally agree. From my experience coaching men in organisations, it’s much more difficult for them to ask for flexible working than it is for women. And understandably as they’re more likely to be judged as no longer engaged in their careers. Headlines like this do not help.”

Of course we aren’t JUST talking about flexible working for caring reasons. There are lots of reasons why people want flexible working patterns and all are important. I’m very keen on the idea of #Flexforall.

What did Zurich do?

In addition to using gender neutral language, each job advert between March 2019 and Feb 2020 stated the roles were available as:

“Part-time, flexible hours, job share.”

The outcome

• “Since changing its policy on job adverts, the number of women hired for top roles has risen by 33%”

• “20% more likely to apply for senior roles if they offer flexible hours.”

In conclusion, great story - but let’s also keep telling all the stories, in particular the one that shines a light on what men want and stops flexible working from being seen a female only desire. Because that doesn’t help anyone!

Click the button to join the conversation on LinkedIn

Photo Credit: Eric Ayon via Unsplash @ericayon10

WTF?! - a razor advert without any benefits or features?

Outrageous!

You may have noticed that this week saw the arrival of a new razor advert. Personally I was upset that it didn’t feature any benefits or features that would help me decide whether my recent decision to use an electric razor was a good decision or whether I had inadvertently become part of a movement.

It is a confusing time to be a man.

I watched the advert without first being aware of the controversy, other than a vague awareness of a Twitter trend - which while interesting can easily be a world to itself.

Notepad and pen out I watched and made notes. I watched it 3 times. I even had a ‘moment’ when I thought about the man I continually seek to be.

Make no mistake it can be a confusing time to be a man - the certainty (and straitjacket) of physical prowess, sole provider for your family and emotional resilience at all costs is being eroded, but it is being eroded by men themselves, because for so many men they want something different - they want equality for their talented partners, they want to be actively involved in raising their children and most importantly they realise they have a choice.

Masculinity is no longer defined by being the breadwinner or having the ability to “man up”. By a distance – among every age of man questioned – everyone agreed that the two most important qualities for modern males were “being present as a father” and “being strong in a crisis”.

Source : GQ Magazine - The State of Man 2018

Passing on the right values

At its heart the Gillette advert it’s an inspirational message about how Dads teach their sons right from wrong, how they pass on the right values by their own actions.

It goes further than that because it works as a call to arms for a new generation. We don’t have to accept and tolerate the bad behaviour of a small number of others who have tarnished our good name. It encourages men to take back the agenda – a fight back against the legitimate punches of #metoo.

✅ Real men don't turn a blind eye to bad behaviour and just laugh it off.

✅ Real men stand up for their values.

✅ They are proud to do the right thing.

It’s true, I didn’t need a brand positioning advert to tell me that.

I also think it was a bit problematic putting children play fighting in the same advert as sexual assault. But I get what they are saying - behaviours are learnt at a young age and your children are watching. Boys will be Boys but that doesn’t stop us encouraging them to be better versions of themselves.

I believe that some men let all men down.

Men (and women) have excused bad behaviour in the past, to paraphrase -

“All it takes for bad behaviour to flourish is for good men to do nothing.”

Of course I could be wrong…

The dislikes on You Tube have hit 965,000 - up 1,000 in the time it’s taken to write this.

“One of the most disgusting adverts I've ever seen”

“This ad is full of ultra left toxic masculinity ideology feminist propaganda”

Need someone to take your work life balance seriously?

If you are one of the 66% of men who identify “being present as a father” as the #1 most important quality for modern males then you get my help with your work balance by scheduling a call with me.