Caregiving fathers regard workplace flexibility as a central factor when deciding on a job role, and will vote with their feet by leaving for elsewhere if it's not offered.
That is the main finding of a new report - Fatherhood Forfeits Post-COVID- All change or business as usual? The Experiences of Caregiving Fathers Managing Work and Care in the Post Covid Environment - which was developed from qualitative research with 28 caregiving fathers.
Led by Dr Jasmine Kelland, in partnership with the early childhood development app Babbu, it set out to explore their post-pandemic experiences of managing caregiving and work.
The responses showed that having had a taste of a more flexible working life and greater involvement at home, many caregiving fathers were reluctant to give this up and would leave their current role for somewhere that offered greater flexibility.
During the course of the research one father, Tim, said:
"I couldn't properly spend time with my daughter, my partner, anything like that and it just basically was not worth it, hence why I looked for another job."
Dr Kelland, Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Programme Leader at the University of Plymouth, has been exploring the concept of fatherhood forfeit for around a decade.
Her work has been published by the House of Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee, and been presented to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fatherhood, as well as professional and academic organisations.
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