Firms urged to give fathers time

More time for Dads

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls is calling on employers to make more time for fathers, so they can be more involved in their children’s lives.

It is part of his department’s ‘Think Fathers’ campaign which aims to encourage public services to recognise the role fathers can play in children’s lives.

Research suggests that if fathers are involved in their children’s lives at the age of seven, they will do better at school.

I think that organisations can often forget that their policies not only affect their employees but their employee’s children. I read a book called the Seven Day Weekend, which explains the working ethos at Semco. This ethos is based on the promise that Ricardo Semler never forgets that he has an obligation to the children of his employees. He realises that how he treats them has a direct link and effect on their children. He takes that responsibility very seriously. If you shout at your employee, do they then go and shout at their family and take it out on them? If you keep them late, does that make their children a little less confident in their ability, damaging their self esteem?

I call this phenomenon the Unseen Employee and I urge every company to think about who their actions really affect and indeed, whether or not these actions are necessary.

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