This past year has been incredibly challenging for Australian families, who have experienced confronting and emotional times. Many parents had to continue working, while also juggling children at home, as childcare centres and schools closed due to COVID-19 related restrictions. While some families found these changes relatively easy to manage, many found it difficult to navigate the changes to their work and family lives.
One of the many things that became evident throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, was the level of support, or lack thereof, that certain groups of workers experienced. Of particular interest were working fathers, many of whom were significantly impacted by the changes in their work role and work environment – ‘pre-COVID’, this group were far less likely to seek out support than working mothers.
With this in mind, work-life wellbeing experts, Transitioning Well along with research partners Di Marzio Research, identified the need to better understand how working fathers across Australia were managing through this time, while also looking at the types of support that they value when faced with work-life challenges.
The research goal was to speak to working fathers, learn more about their experiences in the workplace and at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and better understand the types of support that they are looking for as they seek to create a sustainable work-life balance and optimal levels of mental health and wellbeing.
This research revealed a number of challenges faced by working fathers, who reported that a lack of employer support and flexibility contributed significantly to higher levels of stress, difficulties balancing work and life obligations, and a negative impact on mental health levels.
A substantial number of respondents (61%) believed that employer support was generally easier for mothers to access, citing stigma, society expectations, culture and outdated policies, while 78% were concerned about the impact that COVID-19 had on those closest to them (namely their partner and children).
Some of the key learnings that came from the research, to inform better practice for employers and their teams include:
- Flexibility is Key: Flexible working arrangements allow fathers to better balance their professional and family responsibilities
- Focus on The Family Game: Organisations that promote a ‘family comes first’ mindset are better positioned to offer support. It is important to shift culture so that stigma is reduced, and men are encouraged to have conversations about the challenges that they face, and the supports that they need
- Back to Basics: Support, understanding, and communication will make all the difference, but these need to be promoted and practiced successfully in order to be effective
- Smart Support: Specialised and targeted support has been shown to be more effective than generalised support in providing working fathers with appropriate tools and resources that relevant to their needs
- Gender Equality: Working fathers value the roles that they play outside of the work environment, and businesses that support a work-life balance allow fathers to become genuine ‘contributors’ to their household, rather than less connected ‘providers’
COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the way that fathers operate at work, and within the family unit, and many are looking for additional support to better integrate the two. Businesses can use their experiences of 2020 to shift, and better support working fathers to navigate this work-life juggle.
Organisations will need to think outside the box as they consider how to start conversations around work-life balance and mental health for working fathers, especially given that many men find it difficult to identify, and seek out, support. Intentional changes to business culture need to occur, and parent focused policies and practices must be sustainable. Employers also need to be clever in how they promote use of, and engagement with, supports, which will need to be positioned in such a way that working fathers are able to understand the value of accessing tools and resources.
Working fathers are likely to thrive, and display increased levels of engagement, and improved productivity when their employer is able to adapt. Businesses that use knowledge gained through their COVID experience, can better adapt to today’s challenges, while setting themselves (and their workforce) up to successfully navigate additional demands in the future.
Article written by Transitioning Well.
