New research released today by the University of Queensland on Perceptions of Work/Life Balance found that the main thing working women want is flexible hours - no surprises there!
Paid maternity leave, employer-provided or subsidised childcare and being able to bring children to work were appreciated, but not rated highly. Then you read the sample and discover that they were 1700 childcare workers and dental assistants and that "most of women surveyed did not have small children"! So much for the validity of those results.
Surely the bottom line is that women (and men for that matter) crave flexible work hours but the challenge always has being how on earth do you manage the expectations of your employer and earn enough money to live comfortably if you are reducing your hours of work?
The financial crisis has meant that many people have been forced to take reduced hours and reduced income. It will be interesting to see how many of them decide to go back to full-time work when that option is presented again. I wonder if they discover the forced reduced hours is actually a blessing in disguise. Do I really need that expensive holiday, car, updated TV etc or is having more time for things outside work of more valuable to me?
It will interesting to track the outcome as the economy and consumer confidence improves.
