Thursday 24 March 2011

The Inexorable Rise Of Mumsnet* Continues…

Employers are poor at promoting family-friendly policies, according to a survey of British mothers.
Oh, let me guess…
Most rated the UK behind countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece for general family friendliness, campaigning group Mumsnet found.
They're a 'campaigning group' now? *sigh*
More than four out of five said having children had made it harder to progress in their career, while three out of four said they were less employable.
Well, yes. That’s hardly surprising, is it?

I wouldn’t want to employ a woman of childbearing age either, in the current climate.
Justine Roberts, chief executive of Mumsnet, said: 'Other countries seem to welcome families with open arms but in the UK parents often feel their children are seen as an annoyance.’
Mostly, these days, they are an annoyance.
'At Mumsnet we want to work with business and government to change this, and that's what our Family Friendly campaign is all about.

'We want to see workplaces where parents don't have to deny that their kids exist. We want firms to state on the door that employees don't have to feel bad about asking to go to sports day.’
“‘We want’ doesn’t get..”, as I was always told.
'Being family friendly is good for business too. Companies shouldn't spend time and money training staff only to see them walk out the door once they've had children because their workplaces don't fit with family life.'
If it really was ‘good for business’, Justine, you wouldn’t need to hector and legislate, would you?

* Maybe it wasn't Skynet we were all supposed to fear..?

14 comments:

Mr Eugenides said...

What utter fucking garbage. I'm trying to imagine the reaction if you suggesting installing a creche at your average Greek legal firm or union office. They'd tell you to bugger off and make the coffee.

Ian B said...

Britain's greatest social problem at the moment appears to be an epidemic of harpies.

Macheath said...

'We want firms to state on the door that employees don't have to feel bad about asking to go to sports day.’

Can I assume, then, that Justine would have no objection to her children's teachers taking a day off school to attend their children's sports day?

nisakiman said...

"If it really was ‘good for business’, Justine, you wouldn’t need to hector and legislate, would you?"

That's it in a nutshell.

Anonymous said...

Having children is a lifestyle choice.

That's 'choice' as in having to choose - between your career or having a family.

Why employers should bend over backwards to accommodate what is a personal choice is totally beyond me.

Captain Haddock said...

"Cake and Eat it" springs to mind ..

Captain Haddock said...

"Britain's greatest social problem at the moment appears to be an epidemic of harpies" ...

Yep .. Mumsnet & its strident harridan supporters are clean round the bend ..

microdave said...

Not "clean round the bend" that I'm thinking of, or we wouldn't be hearing any more of their whining...

Ringmer said...

"We want firms to state on the door that employees don't have to feel bad about asking to go to sports day."

As long as they take annual leave and it's with advance warning, I don't care if they want to go to the sports day or flog their assets down Kings Cross Road.

When & where's my award ceremony for being a family friendly employer?

Anonymous said...

The key here is in the word "Employer".

You work for Them....not the other way around.

Anonymous said...

Dont their favorite countries have cash problems due to social generosity etc.

JuliaM said...

"I'm trying to imagine the reaction if you suggesting installing a creche at your average Greek legal firm or union office."

*shock*

But we're all following the same rules, aren't we, it the EU? ;)

"...an epidemic of harpies."

:D

"Can I assume, then, that Justine would have no objection to her children's teachers taking a day off school to attend their children's sports day?"

Oh, my. I'd pay to see the howls that would accompany that.

But then, she'd probably just 'work from home'. Because when you do nothing but pontificate for pay, that options always available.

"As long as they take annual leave and it's with advance warning, I don't care if they want to go to the sports day or flog their assets down Kings Cross Road.

When & where's my award ceremony for being a family friendly employer?"


Indeed!

I suspect this is aimed not at employers, but at employees who aren't quite as accommodating, and might ask pointed questions like 'Why should you ALWAYS get the time off you want, by virtue of the fact you've managed to reproduce?'

"Dont their favorite countries have cash problems due to social generosity etc."

Like Portugal? Never mind, we'll bail them out!

Gordo said...

Southern Europeans are indeed more family friendly. Of course they define family differently from the Mumsnet leadership.

No criticism of Mumsnet members intended, it is like the Citizens Advice Bureau where ordinary members are normal and the unelected leaders are Frankfurt School Marxists and queers.

Anonymous said...

So how come the birth rates in these lovely family friendly countries have collapsed then?