FINDING a job that fits your family life can be a nightmare, that’s why a new ‘Tinder-like’ website has launched to match parents with ideal roles.
Employers have made vast improvements to flexible working, especially during the pandemic when many were forced to adapt.
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But some workers – especially those who are parents – can struggle to find roles that work for their personal lives.
That’s why author Anna Whitehouse (also known as campaigner Mother Pukka) and advocate Tim Grimes have set up an online platform to connect parents with jobs.
It’s called WorkYourWay and over 200 companies have already listed roles that are up for grabs.
Tim told The Sun why he was inspired to work on the new website:
He said: “Many people only really see the benefit of flexible working when something big happens.
“That’s basically what happened to me, the death of my husband made me kind of revaluate my whole work-life balance.
“My employer was incredibly flexible while I was grieving and it made me realise that everyone should be given that opportunity.”
The website aims to help people with families, who want to work remotely, need shared parental leave, or want a 4-day work week, find a job that suits them.
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We take a closer look at how it works.
How do you use it?
Over 200 of companies are already listed including Airbnb, American Express, Dropbox, Revolut, and Lloyds Banking Group.
You can pick from 23 filters to help you find the role you want.
People looking for jobs can find a role pretty instantly.
On the search page you can enter your ideal role title, location and job function – so your chosen field.
You can also add your chosen working pattern such as flexi, part time, or full time, as well as your chosen work-load like reduced hours or a 4-day week.
What’s more, you can add your ideal work place which gives your several options in a drop-down menu like hybrid working, office, work from home, or mobile working.
If you have any life-events you need to account for like a need for parental leave or a sabbatical, you can also select this in the search.
Then simply click search and it will come up with a series of vacancies that suit your needs.
It will say how much of a match to your needs the role is, such as if it is a 100% match.
The site also outlines the contract type being offered as well as the industry and role type.
You can then click for more information or to apply where it will take you to the job page.
Who is WorkYourWay aimed at?
According to Tim and Anna’s research 87% of people want to work flexibly, yet just 11% of jobs advertise this type of working.
Anna said that as a mum she knows the value flexible working has for parents.
She said: “Fifteen minutes was all I needed to be able to make it to my daughter’s nursery on time to collect her.
“I wanted to start 15 minutes earlier, and finish 15 minutes earlier.
“My work said no. They said it would ‘open the floodgates’.
“Nursery and school hours don’t match up with the 9-5 working day, it’s impossible for parents to make both worlds work without flexible hours, and so companies are asking parents to choose – a career or a family.
“We’re taking the power back with WorkYourWay, for parents everywhere – we’re opening the floodgates.”
What other help can parents get?
Other job seeking websites
Other websites like Indeed or Glassdoor also allow candidates to tick what type of working or how many hours they want to do.
Although both of these sites don’t have as many filter options to choose from.
Tim says that what sets their site apart from others like Indeed or Glassdoor is that it doesn’t have a one size fits all approach but instead it works on an individual basis.
Charity support
Charity Working Families has several resources available to parents who are looking to switch to a more flexible work pattern.
These include a letter template to send to employers and a toolkit for parents.
Citizens Advice also has information available for parents who are unsure of their rights or the support available to them.
The website also has an entire section explaining what your rights to flexible working are and how to ask for them.
Financial help
There is financial support available to working parents, such as reduced cochildcare.
Parents who claim Universal Credit can get 85% of their childcare paid for by the government.
The only catch is that you will have to pay for it up front and claim it back later.
The government also has a scheme for parents to access childcare if their children are two-years old or younger.
Eligibility applies, and you can check the full list of criteria on the government’s website.
For the full list of help available to working parents see here.
