Maternity rights legislation 'deterring emplo

Over half of UK employers (53 per cent) believe that new regulations governing maternity rights for women are deterring small and medium-sized employers from hiring women.

Research commissioned by Citrix Online suggests that one third of SMEs in Britain are still not aware of the changes regarding maternity rights and one quarter (26 per cent) feel that the new rules will have a negative commercial impact.

Introduced in April 2007, the new maternity regulations extend the period of statutory maternity pay from six to nine months and allow all mothers to take maternity leave of up to 12 months, during which time their job must be kept open for them.

However, 72 per cent of respondents to the poll stated that the new maternity legislation will boost the adoption of flexible working practices for working mothers, such as flexitime and homeworking.

Currently fewer than one in five employers in Britain (18 per cent) offer flexitime working and just 11 per cent support job sharing schemes, while very few are taking advantage of the benefits that home-based working practices can bring for both workers and productivity.

"In spite of the government's best efforts to encourage employers to provide a family-work balance, our research has shown that attitudes, particularly amongst SMBs, have been slow to change," Citrix spokesman, Simon Presswell, said. "There is a preconception that hiring women can be detrimental to a business, but the opposite is true."

The government is pushing ahead with a range of family friendly initiatives in a bid to improve the work-life balance of UK workers, with many women opting to retrain, start their own firm or develop a "portfolio" career in order to work flexibly.

© Adfero Ltd
Date:07/08/2007 11:39:38