Academics at the University of Birmingham Business School are reaching out to alumni to help with research into the take up of family friendly policies, such as Shared Parental Leave (SPL).
Dr Holly Birkett and Dr Sarah Forbes from the Equal Parenting project have been shining a light on parents' feelings about engaging in childcare, the role of policy and the influence of the workplace on caretaking behaviour. They have already advised government departments about how to support organisations to increase the uptake of SPL and are now looking for help to better understand the views of employees in the workplace.
Sarah says: 'We are hoping to gather feedback on why fathers are unlikely to take up family friendly policies available to them. Responses about what aids or prevents usage of family friendly policies will be of great use in advancing knowledge in the field and inform future policy decisions. All participants from the UK are very welcome and you do not need to have children to participate.'
The survey will take up to 30 minutes to complete. In addition, participants will have the chance to enter into a prize draw to win £50 of Amazon vouchers.