How flexible working ruined the family move

It's well known that family issues are the single biggest reason for unsuccessful relocation assignments. Making sure the spouse, children, and broader family are settled and happy is more difficult than ever before. Why is that and what's the fix?

This is the first in a series of papers looking at what mobility teams need to know about childcare and dependent care in the UK to make sure assignees and their families receive the support they need. Here at My Family Care we're the UK experts at providing child and dependent care advice and solutions to anyone who combines work and family. Before we embark on that knowledge sharing path it's worth explaining why moving with a family is more complicated than it used to be.

Flexible working is the main culprit

Let's go back twenty, even thirty years... Most successful, talented women had to make a choice when they became mothers – have a career or dedicate themselves to their family. In some ways it was simpler; you made the choice and got on with life.

If you chose the career path then it meant hiring a full time nanny. If you chose motherhood then it meant making all kinds of sacrifices on behalf of the greater good of the family and partner. There were very few female partners in professional firms; women in boardrooms were a rarity; and children often saw very little of their fathers. That's not great news but, as the argument goes, at least the choice was clear.

The working mother agenda has changed all of that. Advances in technology have been the main drivers. It's possible to work from home; to pick up a phone call on the school run; or send an email away from the office. It means productivity is more important than location and it means that combining work and family is now more possible than ever.

For families arriving in the UK it has 2 very important consequences:

• The spouse has his or her own expectations which are more difficult to meet; and
• Building up a support network of friends is even more of a challenge.
  

Let's deal with each consequence in turn.

The Spouse

The flexible working agenda means that both mother and father will retain their career ambitions notwithstanding children and notwithstanding a move. Relocation to the UK will have been instigated by one half of the family. That doesn't mean the other partner immediately gives up their own ambitions and dreams of finding the perfect job and opportunity on arrival.

Finding the perfect, flexible and trusted childcare solution is fundamental to the couple's future happiness. Unfortunately flexible childcare often means a nanny which is when the idiosyncrasies of the UK childcare market throw up all kinds of additional worries for the newly arrived family to overcome.

The Support Network

The second consequence of flexible working is that everyone's doing it! It means that building up a network of similar families, with similar aged children is more complicated. All the people who used to be able to help – the partners in similar positions to the newly arrived spouse - are out there working when previously they would have been sitting at home. It makes the first months even more daunting, unless of course that brilliant and trusted childcare solution is available from the start.

Solutions!

We will be providing some useful guides to the UK childcare market and dependent care market later in the year. The good news is that there are plenty of solutions out there and a little bit of knowledge and time invested in helping the family sort out its childcare often makes all the difference.

If you'd like more information or to have an informal chat about how we support families arriving in the UK please view our solutions page for relocating families or contact us at enquiry@myfamilycare.co.uk or 0845 676 7680.