September 30 is International Podcast Day! To celebrate the occasion I have created a special Podcast Day bonus episode where I am going to look back at the past episodes and see what we have heard so far.

First off, let's look at the people I have interviewed

(some background music here?)
10 working parents
8 women
2 men
Out of the families we have discussed, we've had:
19 children
7 Parents doing full-time paid work
8 Parents doing part-time paid work
1 parent studying
1 parent out of paid work after a workplace injury
2 shift workers
3 families impacted by work travel
2 families with special needs children

So what have we talked about? Well as you can imagine we talk about flexible work arrangements a bit. I loved getting Alina's perspective on flexible work arrangements as someone in the HR field.

Extract from Episode 4: Alina

So I think from the time I interviewed Alina there has been more and more evidence coming out that supports that view, that workers who have the ability to make work and other life demands happen more easily are more productive, balanced and loyal within their workplaces.

So when you were listening to Alina speak just then, who were you picturing? Someone you know who is already working part-time? Someone at your workplace who job shares? A friend who does some work from home. Can I ask, was the person you were picturing......female? More than likely it was.

I have written some of my own thoughts on flexible work arrangements in a blog post that I am going to read a passage from now:

"Overwhelmingly when people talk about their flexible work arrangements, it is our work value being expressed in ‘number of hours at work’, where the longer the hours = the more valuable the employee. This metric means that by being at work less (working part-time, or taking time off for kids appointments or events) we are seen as being less valuable, achieving less, and being less committed. If we are trying to work fewer hours we are seen to be slacking off or taking advantage. Quite frankly this metric serves to further the careers of those not toeing the childcare line…..currently, that is mostly men.

But a different metric to assess value is how productive we are, or what we are achieving in our work. Research is showing that employees (men and women) that may be at work fewer hours, but have a greater sense of balance and having the time to look after all their life responsibilities, are more content, more productive at work and easier to retain in the workplace. Some suggest that in reality, people working 4 days get more done than those working 5 days, that compressed intense passages of work can be more productive than long passages of time that are easily squandered. We all need to challenge our perception of flexible work as ‘working less’ and move towards seeing it as ‘a better fit for the same work’."

Because while we are getting more and more on board with women working flexibly to fit in around family responsibilities which is a great step forward if we go back to the introductory episode of Head of a Codfish you may remember how we want males to be in the flexible work picture also.

Extract from Episode 01: Introduction

If at the moment we are not seeing men requesting flexible work arrangements in greater numbers, what are the barriers? As I discussed with Meaghan,