A large proportion of Dutch parents have come into contact with stereotypes about parenthood in the workplace. The biggest prejudice is that parents have to take more time off and that they have less time to work. That's according to a survey by Indeed. Furthermore, it has been found that a quarter of the women expect that their supervisor sees parenthood as a disadvantage. For men, that percentage is 16 percent.
When it comes to the performance of employees with children, the respondents are somewhat more positive. More than 60 percent indicate that their functioning has not changed after having a child. Almost a quarter say they have even started to perform better, compared to 11 percent who say they are doing worse in the workplace.
Employers can do a lot to make it easier to reconcile work and parenthood. Flexibility is the magic word here. The respondents mentioned the freedom to work longer one day and shorter the next, being able to work from home and more (paid) parental leave. It is striking that almost four in ten parents indicate that after the birth of the child he or she was actually not yet ready to get back to work.
