Working it out

Work-life balance has become the goal of workers under stress, whether from the temporary demands of a deadline or the cumulative effect of juggling professional and domestic responsibilities. The government's plans to extend the right to request flexible working to all parents of children under 16 will add a potential 4.5 million employees to those already working flexibly and will be welcomed by parents who find it particularly difficult to arrange care for older children. Already 90% of companies offer some form of flexible working, largely because they have found that flexi-time, family-friendly hours and job-sharing have been successful in retaining experienced staff after they become mothers. In some organisations, however, the increasing number of staff who work part-time or leave early is starting to cause resentment among colleagues who do not have young children and have to cover for colleagues who do.