New campaign calls for flexible working hours

Parents are finding it harder than ever to protect their job as a direct result of having children.

It is estimated that 30,000 women lose their jobs every year simply as a result of being pregnant.

Despite legislation to protect pregnant women and parents, the recession has put added pressure on working mothers to bow down to the pressure of being indispensable at work or risk being sacked, made redundant or bullied out of the workplace.

One creative community is attempting to create debate about the future of women and parents in the workplace and what businesses in all industries can do to produce an efficient environment for parents needing more flexible working hours.

Creative community, Nude, has launched the ‘Escape the Agency Rat Race’ campaign, aiming to gather opinion and comments on whether the standard 9-5 working day is really getting the best output from its staff.

Founder and Managing Director of Nude, Gary Reid said: “We’ve launched this campaign to uncover what people really think about the inflexible working practices that plague many organisations. An increasing number of businesses promote flexible working measures as benefits on paper, however very few actually foster an environment that actively encourages employees to achieve this work/life balance.

“Hopefully this campaign will get businesses to really sit up and think about how they can implement a more flexible working culture.”

Nude itself employs a staff which includes a young mother that takes a break between 1pm and 3pm so she can pick her kids up, a creative who comes up with his best ideas after his family is tucked up in bed and an account planner who works on a Saturday and takes Tuesday’s off.

Professionals from all companies and departments are invited to leave their thoughts and opinions on the dedicated website: www.escapetheagencyratrace.co.uk