UK: Should your business do more for working dads?

Article here. Excerpt:

'As Fathers' Day looms, is it really the case that working dads get a raw deal from employers?

That's the conclusion of a survey from careers website TheLadders.co.uk, released to coincide with (/shamelessly cash in on) Fathers' Day this weekend. It proclaims that 72% of executives think UK companies should review and revise their company policies to help them be better fathers. According to the survey, men think being a father also makes them a better employee - yet they still don't feel comfortable asking for time off for paternity leave and family commitments. But given that some men don't even realise they're entitled to paternity leave, it suggests that employers may not be entirely to blame...

Nearly three-quarters of those polled said they didn't take enough time off when their children were born, while around half saying they were 'uncomfortable' about taking time out for family commitments like school sports days and parents meetings. The suggestion is that execs just don’t believe their line manager is going to give them time off to watch their kid’s egg-and-spoon race without thinking they're a lily-livered work-shy waste of space. 'Men still feel 'family' is a dirty word in the work environment,' bemoans TheLadders's MD Derek Pilcher.'