• About this study
• Our findings
• Our study details

Atypical work and family life

How does work outside of the traditional working week affect family life?

Did you know?

The amount of time each week that fathers work outside normal office hours

from : Atypical work and family life findings

About this study

Working outside office hours is now the norm rather than the exception. This study looks in detail at what impact changing work habits has had on different types of families. Some key findings are that:

Eight out of ten working fathers and over half of working mothers work some non-traditional hours.

Few parents were able to 'make up' the time they missed with their children because of working atypical hours.

You can read more interesting findings like these online here, or in a downloadable pdf.The full report is also available to download here .

The study was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and carried out in collaboration with the Relationships Foundation.

Potential policy impact

Government support of parents who work atypical hours cuts across a number of key policy areas. For example, at the moment parents can request to work flexible hours. Our findings raise important questions about a parent's right to work less or no atypical hours and the implications of this for family friendly working policy and employers.

Our study also suggests that policy makers may need to consider increasing the number of childcare options available during atypical hours. This is particularly important for lone parents, whose skills profile may mean that they are more likely to be applying for jobs outside traditional work hours.

Methods

The findings from this study are based on secondary analysis of the UK Time Use Survey (UKTUS). The UKTUS was a large-scale government sponsored survey that provides a unique 'fly-on-the-wall' look at how people spend their time and who they spend it with. All household members aged eight and over were asked to complete two 'in their own words' one-day diaries (one weekday, one weekend day) of their daily activities and a seven-day 'overview' diary of when they were in work or full-time education.

Of interest: