A recent poll conducted by the Family League – and reported on by Le Soir and RTBF – indicated that 70% of parents are finding it harder to strike a healthy work-life balance between caring for their children and careers. As a result, more than half of these parents have cut back on their working hours since having children.
Carried out between 19 September and 5 October, the Ipsos polling institute asked 1,000 French-speaking Belgian adults with at least one child between the ages of 0 and 25.
The polling found that seven in 10 parents found it difficult to work full-time while having children – with half of the respondents stating that they have reduced their working hours since becoming parents.
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As a result, 64% of respondents want parental leave to remain compulsory, with a further 67% of the opinion that it should be the same length as maternity leave.
Furthermore, 71% of respondents are demanding a so-called reconciliation leave which would allow them to deal with all the unforeseen events in family life.
On a brighter note however, 83% of working parents stated that they preferred working from home since the pandemic, which has also increased their well-being.
