Sounds pretty good and it would be nice to see more policies that focus on this. The recession has scaled back some of the government plans but there's always going to be a good excuse to postpone changes. Good for them for pushing this now. Finding a new balance between work and home is an interesting subject and something that I tend to think a lot more of today than I did ten years ago. Would anyone really not like more flexibility in the workplace?
Employers will be expected to offer more part-time jobs for working parents under a major shift in government thinking on family life. The move is likely to provoke an outcry from business and accusations that ministers are not taking into account the financial burden of extending workers' rights during a recession.
Yvette Cooper, the work and pensions secretary, wants firms that advertise full-time posts in jobcentres to consider opening them up to job sharers or part-time workers. However, the Observer understands senior ministers are also considering proposals to extend flexible working laws – which allow parents to ask only their current boss if they can reduce their hours – to future employers. That could permit a woman applying for a new job to ask first about changing her hours to fit school runs, for example.
