Fatherhood and Work

I just read an article addressing the now growing concern of fathers, who feel they are not able to spend as much time with their children as much as they’d love. It was great to know that for a change people are waking up to the “male angle” to family and life balance.
Well, as far as I remember there have been scores of debates and discussions about the pangs of women who have to cut corners trying to balance work and familial responsibilities. And also the concerns of employers who’ve felt that women tend to put their family first, which I think would end soon with people waking up to the fact that even men prefer to go back home to their kids as much as women.
I think a shift in perspective would certainly not hurt anyone, especially today when we find employers stringently holding on to policies on leave and working hours that it seems to be a getting a tad out of hand in a lot of cases. What with certain organisations incorporating the necessity to clock in and out even during toilet or smoking breaks. I do agree that the latter is not really a life-threatening necessity but are not people allowed to do something that can relieve a lot of stress and widen perspectives?
Jokes apart, though it is understood that policy makers are striving to build more efficient workplaces and improve productivity it is quite debatable how that can be achieved by forcing people to stick to timelines.
Anyway now let’s overlook that for the time being. Coming to fact of removing the gender bias that women constantly suffer when it comes to their familial wants, I personally think the new cognizance of fatherly woes can only do more good than bad. Particularly since that the growing concerns and desire of men to spend more time with their family will help them voice their opinion, which could help employers build a more employee needs friendly environment.
It is obvious that every business strives to make money and in its mission to fulfill this basic premise it constantly tries to motivate its staff to become more productive. However though today’s competitive business environment warrants persistent adherence to employee productivity enhancing measures, I feel that building policies that even considers an employees’ personal responsibilities, giving requisite leeway will help the organisation’s cause much more than they’ll ever realise.
After all I work with fathers and I can’t say I’ve never noticed how much they panic when their toddlers fall ill or for that matter how badly they look forward to go home as early as possible to spend time with their brood.