More than two thirds of respondents across the Middle East and North Africa said fatherhood affects a man's professional productivity for the better, according to the latest online poll series conducted by the Middle East’s number one job site Bayt.com. The results of the ‘Working fathers in the Middle East2010’ poll showed that72.2% of respondents found fatherhood to have a positive influence on their work life, while only7.5% considered having children to be detrimental to their careers.
When asked what a working father’s top priority is in their country of residence today, an impressive42.4% stated that they believed family was the most important factor in their lives, exceeding the number of professionals (34.2%) who considered work to be the main priority.
The polls went on to ask the region’s respondents what they thought was a reasonable workweek schedule for working fathers in the Middle East. These results were varied, with over a third of those polled (38%) deeming40 hours per week to be an acceptable amount,23.4% considering less than40 hours per week to be reasonable and25.5% believing40 to50 hours per week to be fair. A small percentage (6.5%) even considered50 to60 hours per week to be a reasonable working schedule.
Participants in the poll were then asked how many hours, on average, professional fathers actually work in their country of residence, to which almost a third (30.8%) replied40 to50 hours per week,17.7% said40 hours per week, only14.8% stated less than40 hours per week and17.4% said50 to60 hours per week.
The respondents were then asked if their employers offered them paternity leave. More than half (55.2%) said no, versus28.5% who said they did receive paid paternity leave and a small number (8.6%) who claimed to receive unpaid leave.
“Bayt.com is dedicated to researching and analyzing data that can be useful to both employees and employers. The results of our most recent poll reveal that fatherhood has a positive influence on the working lives of the majority of men and also that family is considered to be a number one priority for a large percentage of working fathers in the region,” said Amer Zureikat, Vice President Sales, Bayt.com.
“However, the polls also show that, worryingly, many fathers work longer hours than they deem to be reasonable and over half do not receive any paid paternity leave. Therefore these results clearly demonstrate that there are issues that need to be addressed for fathers in the workplace across the Middle East,” added Zureikat.
When asked if their employer offers the same flexibility to working mothers and fathers, an astonishing half of all respondents (51.4%) stated that their employer is not flexible to either working mothers or fathers and16.5% said that more flexibility was given to working mothers. However, a surprising third (29.1%) said that their employer gives equal flexibility to working mothers and fathers.
Furthermore, the importance of family for working men was yet again underlined when over half (54%) of respondents asserted that either they or another working father they knew would change jobs for more family-friendly arrangements at a pay sacrifice. However29.9% said that they would not change jobs for a more flexible working environment at the price of a pay cut.
Almost two thirds (62.6%) of respondents then stated that they wanted a better salary, when asked what they or any working father they knew would want most from their employer, while only9.3% said they would like more hours to spend with their family and a tiny3.9% wanted permission to take an extended leave to spend with their kids. Finally,18.8% stated that they wanted more family benefits from their employer.
Data for the ‘Working fathers in the Middle East2010’ poll series was collected online between16 August and4 October, with a total of11,516 respondents from across the Middle East. This and other Middle East research, as well as information on Bayt.com’s classifieds, are available online on www.bayt.com.