Conducting A Daddy Diagnostic

12/18/2002

Conducting A Daddy Diagnostic

"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." –Wayne Gretzky

CONDUCTING A "DADDY DIAGNOSTIC"

In a United Kingdom report summarized in Work & Family Newsbrief (December, 2002; www.workfamily.com), Dad's Army: The Case for Father-Friendly Workplaces" author Richard Reeves observes that dads' lives have changed profoundly, but work has not. "Neither men nor their employers have yet got to grips with the dual roles required by fatherhood and career," he notes. He argues that with women in the workplace, men's lives have changed profoundly. But it is the "dinosaur dads," those 50 and older, whose families were raised by stay-at-home wives, who occupy the most senior positions and have "disproportionate influence on workplace cultures." According to Reeves, many of these leaders have awakened to the fact that they now employ mothers. But few have paid attention to the fact that they now employ a different kind of father, one who wants greater flexibility in his hours and more control over them. An executive who takes paternity leave or a CEO who has his daughter's school performance written into the staff calendar can make all the difference. Reeves recommends that companies conduct "Daddy Diagnoses": find out the issues fathers are dealing with and audit existing human resource policies.

The full report can be found at www.theworkfoundation.com/pdf/5110000046.pdf.

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