BRITISH PEOPLE are struggling to balance work and family commitments, according to new research.
Findings from the Working Families and Bright Horizons charities show that only one in five families felt they had achieved the right balance between family time and having enough income to see their family thrive. More than a third say they felt they had neither.
The results also showed that only a third of parents managed to leave work on time every day, with one in five reporting that they worked a total of five extra weeks a year just to keep up with the demands of their jobs.
Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive, Working Families said: “Parents are very clear: family is the most important thing to them, but the twin currencies of time and money they need for their families to thrive are not available to them.”
72 percent of parents questioned also said they catch up on work at home in the evenings and the weekends, with 41 percent saying that this is often or all of the time.
The studies confirm a trend, with Groupon also reporting that families will spend an average of 35 days, or one-third of the summer, staring at a screen.
The e-commerce company found that families will spend an average of six hours a day staring at smartphones and other devices and the average child will watch 60 movies and play 150 hours of video games over the summer months
Greg Rudin, head of Fun Things To Do at Groupon said: “As parents, we’re often just as guilty as our kids when it comes to screen time, which is why it’s important for the entire family to put down our devices every once in awhile and go make some memories together.”
