Flexible hours 'top priority for working mums'

Flexible working remains the most important element of family-friendly employment, according to an annual survey.

The poll of 1677 people by Workingmums.co.uk found that 85% felt that offering flexible working on full-time jobs signified a family-friendly employer, with opportunity to work from home in full-time work coming a close second.

By contrast, only 31% felt that extended paid maternity leave was important in a family-friendly employer.

And of those respondents on maternity leave, almost half (49%) said they were unaware of the Keeping in Touch entitlement, which allows mothers to work for their employer for up to ten days during their maternity leave without losing benefits.

Founder of Workingmums.co.uk, Gillian Nissim, said that the results show that "flexible working is top of working mums' agenda and will not go away".

"The recession has not reduced the urgency of this issue for working parents and employers who want to be prepared for the eventual upturn in the economy would do well to listen to their voices rather than risk losing them to more forward-thinking rivals," she added.

There have been signs this summer that the recession could actually be driving forward some forms of flexible work.

In June, a survey by the CBI suggested that 45% of employers had increased flexible working as part of a "changed employment landscape", partly brought about by the economic climate.