Men given twice as much workplace flexibility as women – and still take more fake sick days

Men are given twice as much flexibility than women when it comes to working hours, according to new research.

The study, conducted by conference call service provider Powwownow, found that on average men work six hours flexibly per week, compared to just three hours worked by women.

Surprisingly, less than half of women (47%) are afforded the opportunity to work flexibly by their employer in an average week, while two thirds of men (66%) are granted this request.

The research also found that in addition to favourable working hours, men are also rewarded more for working overtime; more than half (55%) are paid extra for working outside their contracted hours, compared to only a third of women (33%).

But when asked to work overtime, more than a third of men (35%) reported being “angry” or “frustrated”; a contrasting reaction to their female counterparts, of whom half (56%) expressed a positive reaction such as “motivated” or “confident”.

Despite getting a better deal in the workplace, men are more inclined to take fake sick days, with a third (33%) admitting they take at least one or more days off a year without good reason, in contrast to just a fifth of women (20%) who take this liberty.

Jason Downes, MD of Powwownow commented: “It’s quite astonishing that men are granted twice as much flexibility in the workplace than women, especially as the law allowing employees to request flexible hours came into force more than two years ago.

“From the research it is clear that attitudes towards men and women in the workplace, as well as general approaches to flexible working, still leave a lot of room for improvement; employers need to take urgent action to address this imbalance.

“If businesses want to attract skilled talent to their workforce, these are the types of approaches that need to change. Without change, people will be reluctant to join an outdated workplace and businesses will miss out on the next generation of talent required to drive the economy forward.”