Prognos study on father-friendliness

More flexibility - fewer working hours
74% of fathers would like more flexibility in terms of working hours. As far as the place of work is concerned, 48 percent would like more flexibility. In addition, 40 percent of fathers would like to reduce their weekly working hours. 46% would like to work less overtime.

Fathers think about changing jobs to achieve a better work-life balance
17% of fathers are currently willing to change jobs to achieve a better work-life balance. 23 percent of fathers sometimes think about changing jobs, and one in ten fathers has actually already changed employers to improve their work-life balance.

The generation of young fathers is particularly willing to change jobs to improve their work-life balance
Younger fathers are more willing to change jobs than older fathers. Of fathers under the age of 35, 54 percent sometimes or often think about changing jobs, while this aspect only plays a role for 19 percent of fathers aged 50 and over.

Majority of companies offer personnel measures to promote work-life balance
56% of companies perceive their own range of measures to improve work-life balance as well positioned. Another positive aspect: at 59 percent, a clear majority of fathers have had no negative experiences in connection with parental leave.

The pioneers and ambitious companies do things differently:

• The companies actively offer father-friendly HR measures
• Executives take a pioneering role, by taking advantage of family-friendly offers themselves
• Aspects of compatibility with fathers are addressed in staff appraisals
• The companies inform fathers about the children's sick days
• Family commitments are taken into consideration when making professional appointments
• There are both male employees and male managers who work part-time

Many companies obviously overestimate their family friendliness
While 63 percent of companies consider themselves to be father-friendly, only 38 percent of fathers share this view. 45 percent of fathers consider their employer to be only partially father-friendly and 14 percent even not very father-friendly. Fathers who rate their company as less father-friendly are more likely to consider changing employers.

Little consideration for fathers' needs when it comes to family commitments
While the majority of companies believe that they take fathers into consideration when scheduling meetings, only half of fathers feel this way. Compatibility is also still too rarely a fixed topic on the agenda in staff meetings with superiors.

There is a lack of role models among managers
On the company side, 83 percent state that managers themselves are credibly committed to reconciling work and family life, but only just under half of fathers think so.

Fathers believe there is a lack of special communication strategies
14 percent of fathers say that the communication of family-conscious measures is predominantly aimed at mothers. Nine percent of fathers say that only mothers are addressed and fathers are not addressed at all. Almost one in four fathers state that there is no communication at all in their company about family-conscious offers.