Helen Ilsley | Director of BD & Executive Coach
This discussion explores how organisations can better support working parents, focusing on flexible working, role models, and parental leave.
Flexible working is often misunderstood as simply working from home, but it encompasses a wide range of arrangements: part-time roles, job shares, compressed hours, and flexible start or finish times. True flexibility, however, is rooted in trust and autonomy, focusing on outcomes rather than rigid schedules. For many parents and carers, flexibility is not a luxury but a lifeline, essential for balancing work and home responsibilities.
Encouragingly, more fathers are participating in conversations about parenting at work, such as at the Working Dads Summit 2025, where attendees were equally split between men and women. This shift helps normalise caregiving as a shared responsibility rather than an issue just for mothers. Representation and role modelling are key, yet, expecting one perfect role model is unrealistic. Instead, individuals can draw inspiration from multiple people to create a 'board of directors' as lots of different role models.
Equal parental leave for all parents is another vital development. Around 165 UK organisations now offer equal leave, but uptake depends heavily on senior leaders setting the example. Policies alone are insufficient without a culture that supports their use.
Managers play a critical role in supporting returning parents. They should be cautious around benevolence bias, avoid making assumptions, and communicate openly. For working parents, the advice is to find courage to initiate honest conversations about needs, prepare clearly for discussions, and frame requests as mutually beneficial.
Finally, transparency remains a challenge: companies still don’t publish their parental policies, however, over the past six years, there has been significant progress in how companies communicate support for working parents. In 2019, 33 of the Times Top 100 graduate employers made no mention of parenting on their websites, but now only one does. While the number of leading beacon companies has grown, there is still more work to be done to achieve full transparency and inclusion.
