"A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favourite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house." A man's place is at work.... Or is it?

Equality in this day and age suggests that a woman's place can equally be at work. But, according to Dad's Army: The case for father-friendly workplaces, a new report by Richard Reeves of the Work Foundation, UK, while women have largely won the arguments for family-friendly policies and practices in the workplace, neither men nor their employers have yet got to grips with the dual roles required by fatherhood and career, nor the benefits that go with it.

A case of lead by example can make all the difference, like the chief executive who has his daughter's school performance written in permanent ink into the staff calendar, or a senior manager setting a lead by taking paternity leave.

Five steps to father-friendliness
As always, the key question is "What is to be done?" The report offers organisations a five-step approach to becoming effectively father-friendly:

• A "Daddy Diagnostic" - find out the issues that fathers are dealing with, and audit existing HR policies
• Paternity leave - introduce provision that exceeds the statutory minimum
• Time sovereignty - increase working hours flexibility, giving people more control over the hours they work: "More than any single policy change, the modernisation of company attitudes towards working time will help working parents."
• Culture shift - taking responsibility at all levels to change attitudes towards fathering
• Good work - improving the quality of working life: so less stress and negativity is brought home.

To read more: http://www.flexibility.co.uk/issues/WLB/dads.htm