Working dads continue to explore different options that would free up more time to spend with their families. Despite a tough economy, 30 percent said they are willing to take a pay cut to spend more time with their children, down from 37 percent in 2008. Forty percent would consider a cut of 10 percent or more.
Thirty-nine percent of working dads report they spend two hours or less per day with their children during the workweek, while 14 percent are only able to spend an hour or less. Thirty-one percent of working dads bring work home at least once a week, up from 25 percent last year. Half of working dads said they have missed a significant event in their child’s life in the last year due to work; 28 percent have missed more than three.
"Many working dads have to contend with heavier workloads and longer hours as businesses struggle to do more with less," said Jason Ferrara, senior career adviser at CareerBuilder and father of two. "It’s important to have a conversation with your supervisor. Employers are placing more emphasis on work/life balance through creative benefits that encourage employees to better manage their personal and professional commitments. However, nearly half of working dads do not take advantage of any flexible work arrangements offered to them."
Ferrara offers the following tips to help working dads gain a healthy balance between their work and home lives:
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder between February 20 and March 11, 2009 among 797 U.S. male workers (ages 18 and over, employed full-time; not self-employed with at least one child under 18 years old living at home). Percentages for some questions are based on a subset of these U.S. male workers, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 797, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 3.47 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.
About CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset – their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com, is the largest in the U.S. with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 31 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world’s top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to talent acquisition. More than 9,000 Web sites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder’s proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com
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