Given the unexpected interruptions to the working day which children can present – school holidays, a sudden illness, childcare falling through – the fact that parents can take up to four weeks of unpaid leave per child per year can be very handy.
But how does that work in reality? It leaves that parent’s colleagues to pick up the slack, which can become a source of resentment. And more than that, the existence of that unpaid leave can mean that parents – especially mothers – end up seeing their career progression stall as they spend more time away from work.
So, have working parents got it harder than ever? Mothers Emily Watkins and Charlie Bond, and work academic Adam Webster, give their perspectives.
Trying to work when you have kids of pre-school age is not for the faint of heart. There is literally not a week that goes by when one of them doesn’t have a snotty nose, a sickness bug, gunky eyes or an incident report from nursery because another child scratched their face while pretending to be a cat.
Nursery costs £100 a day. And half the time they’re not even there because they’re unwell.
