Olympics could provide ‘watershed' for family-friendly workplaces
Janaki Mahadevan
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Employers should use the Olympic Games to accelerate progress towards more family-friendly workplaces, a family charity has urged.
Fifty days before the sporting event kicks off, the Family and Parenting Institute said that large numbers of major employers are adopting flexible working practices during the London 2012 Games.
The charity believes the event offers the opportunity to drastically change family life in the UK, potentially creating a “watershed” moment for family-friendly working practices.
Dr Katherine Rake, chief executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, said: “Flexible working is a key aspect of ensuring London and other UK cities can host events successfully and maintain business-as-usual through the Olympics period.
“But beyond this, flexible working during the Olympics could usher in a revolution in terms of how we can balance our work and our family lives.
"Britons are crying out for greater freedom from long commutes, deskbound jobs and inflexible hours, which undermine family relationships. Flexible working is the key that could change family life forever.”
Rake said part of the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games should be to change the work culture that impacts upon families, citing the promise of more flexible working provisions in the Families and Children Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech last month.
Caroline Waters, director of policy at BT, said: “We are proactively using the Games as an opportunity to demonstrate how flexible working creates agile, responsive businesses, as well as productive and healthy employees.
“Many UK employers will be nervously excited about putting broad flexi-working arrangements into practice for the very first time, and we wish them good luck.”
