UAE companies urged to give mothers flexible working hours

Mothers are calling for more employees to allow them to work more flexible hours.

ABU DHABI // Mothers have called for their employers to be more flexible about the hours they work.

The answer, they say, is flexitime, the work systems that allows employees to spend an agreed number of hours per week in their workplace.

Recently, authorities have expressed concerns that, because of work constraints, Emirati mothers are giving up child-rearing duties to their nannies.

Noura, 25, mother of twins and a full-time financial accounts specialist, said having flexitime would allow her to spend more time with her children.

“I will be able to manage, control and balance between my home and work responsibilities,” said the Emirati.

“I will be more able to do activities that I couldn’t do after work because of longer working hours.

“I will be more satisfied and productive at work and it will avoid stress. It will reduce my absence days as well.”

Another mother, Mahra Al Suwaidi, 24, who works in recruitment, said having to work a full day means she sometimes worries about her child.

“I will be more comfortable knowing I can leave work to provide for my baby’s need,” she said.

“Especially when the baby has appointments or had a hard time falling asleep, if a mother can come a few hours late and be excused by her manager without salary cuts then we will be more relaxed.”

She also said certain jobs that are not confidential could be done at home, with the support of the managers.

As a recruiter, Ms Al Suwaidi said mothers can also show proof of doctor’s appointments and evidence of work away from the office if needed.

Abdulmuttalib Hashim, managing director of Talib Bin Hashim Consultancy in Dubai, said companies would lose out if they did not adopt more flexible working hours for mothers.

He said some companies were offering flexible timings, but many were rigid in the number of hours that needed to be worked.

The companies “could potentially lose out on their best female talents to competitors who offer such perks”, he said.

“Working mothers are normally confronted with the dilemma of pursuing their careers or focusing on being a mother.”

This, the mother will either “have to sacrifice a degree of her commitment to her career which in turn affects her productivity and even climbing the career ladder” or she chooses to “commit to become a full-time mother all together.

“Flexitiming in fact can be positive for companies who think on the long term, the reasons being that working mothers who lead a sustainable work-life system can potentially be happier, more productive and stand a higher chance of being retained,” said Mr Hashim.