No new family policies, say FDs
A majority of UK businesses are not planning to introduce new family friendly policies this year despite studies showing that Britain lags behind the rest of Europe.
This week’s Accountancy Age/Reed Accountancy Personnel Big Question found 59% of finance directors said their companies had no such plans. Many believed their companies do enough. ‘Any more friendly and we’d be a kibbutz,’ said one FD.
But the comments contrasted with a recent study by the National Family and Parenting Institute which found only one in 20 companies offer full family benefits.
Some finance directors appeared to agree with the findings: ‘Family and friendly are not two words that belong to this company’s dictionary,’ said one.
Even among the 22% of FDs expecting more family friendly policies this year, it as concern about complying with legislation rather than improving life for employees’ lot that was prompting changes. One company was introducing new policies ‘to comply with EC directure, nothing extra.’