In the war for talent, every strategy must be utilized to stand out among your competition. However, you must also know what jobseekers want in order to attract and retain them. In honor of Father’s Day, we’re looking at new Indeed data, which reveals what working fathers want from their employers, and what this demographic needs in order to have a better work/life balance.
Indeed conducted a recent survey—consisting of 925 respondents with men making up 43% of all respondents—to see how dads’ work/life balance changes after they become a parent. We’ve outlined a few of the findings below.
Expecting Fathers Expect Paternity Benefits
For expecting fathers looking for a position at a new company, 51% say they evaluate the company’s paternity leave policy before considering the job. Upon learning they were having a child, 44% of expecting dads said they were concerned about the amount of paternity leave their company offered. Needless to say, if your company doesn’t have one of these policies in place, you’re missing out on top talent.
Additionally, once the baby is born a father’s priorities change, and they expect their employers to accommodate these changes as well. For instance, 65% of new fathers are more concerned about the benefits their employers are offering, with health care leading the way. Indeed also found that 7 weeks is the average amount of time dads were able to take as paternity leave. Yet on average, fathers felt they needed 10 weeks.
New Fathers Expect More Flexibility
Indeed found that once a child is born, 12% of new fathers are not returning to work full time, citing childcare costs as the top reason (60%). Furthermore, 47% of new fathers say they want to stay home more often to be with their children.
What would make new fathers return full time? Indeed found that 67% of new fathers would come back to work full time if their employer offered them the ability to work from home, and 47% would stay if they were offered a raise. Better benefits, cited by 37% of new fathers, would also help keep these workers around.
It’s not just the ability to work from home that would make dads happy, they also want better flexibility in the morning, because of newborn babies keeping them up at night. According to Indeed’s findings, 80% of new fathers say they would benefit from having more flexibility on what time they arrived to work in the morning.
More Children, More Money Problems
Having one child may be difficult for some, but having multiple children is clearly taking its toll on parents across the nation. According to Indeed’s findings, dads with two or more children expressed things get harder as families expand, and it all boils down to a need to make more money. As 26% of dads are more likely than working moms to say getting a pay raise is very important.
More money may be important to all jobseekers but for working dads, 69% say childcare costs became a much bigger concern once they have more than one child, meaning more compensation will help them balance out these issues.
Be Proactive to Attract Working Fathers
Money and flexibility were a consistent theme throughout Indeed’s latest research findings. In fact, working dads explained the different ways employers can help them maintain a better work/life balance:
- Employers should offer a set number of flexible hours parents can use to attend mid-day activities, cited by 60% of fathers.
- Also cited by 60% of working dads, employers should have a policy that allow parents to use their sick days to stay home with children when they are sick.
- To help offset the cost/burden of childcare, 42% of dads say employers should offer a stipend or some sort of childcare benefit.
- Additionally, 53% of dads think employers should allow more flexibility to work from home.
- Employers should allow parents some flexibility to attend after-school activities/sports, cited by 74% of dads.
- To accommodate a child’s after-school activities, 46% of dads think employers should allow a set number of flexible hours so parents can attend their child’s after-school activities/sports.
With Father’s Day right around the corner, honor working dads by offering the benefits they need to maintain a great work/life balance. Not only will you make your current workforce happy, but you’ll also stand out as an “employer of choice” to jobseekers, as well.