There is a lot of concentration on ensuring women in the work place have time to be a mother. Employers are aware that family time is important and a happy mom makes for a happy employee. They realize the importance of ensuring mom has enough time to attend school functions and take care of sick children when needed. However, there has not been as much emphasis on ensuring fathers get their due time. But times are changing and employers are becoming more amenable to giving fathers time off to be a dad.
Being a working parent can be difficult. You have to juggle work time and family responsibilities. A working parent often misses time with their child and wants to maximize the time they have. So, when there is a chance to chaperone a field trip or attend a school function, parents do not want to miss this. While these feelings are readily recognized with working mothers, fathers have the same feelings. They too want to be an integral part of their children’s lives and need to make room in their career to do so.
Most people nowadays have two incomes with both the mother and father working full time. For mothers, their career is just as important to them as their husband’s. If they find they have to continually take time off it can damage their career. However, if they can share that time with dad then there is an equitable amount of time for both career responsibilities and family responsibilities between husband and wife. Fathers who have understanding and supportive employers get to have the gratitude of the mom as well as the children.
There are many things employers can do to help support families. Some have programs designed to help support new parents, some offer flex time to allow for personal time off to deal with child care or attend functions, some allow work at home opportunities to save on child care expenses and then of course there is the time off immediately following the birth of the baby. Employers who offer these programs should consider allowing equal benefits for both men and women so fathers can be fathers. Instead of maternity leave, allow paternity leave also.
The stronger the family bond and the happier the family is as a whole, the more productive the employee will be. For working parents who are stressed because they have no opportunity to interact with their children when necessary it can make for a difficult work environment. Resentment can accumulate and the employee may even start looking for a more family friendly environment. Becoming family friendly in the work place is essential for both men and women. It is an investment into the employee that will pay off with loyalty and hard work. The more accommodating the employer is, the more hard working the employee will be.
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