Workingmums.co.uk, the UK’s number one jobsite for professional working mums and flexible jobseekers, is holding its second annual Top Employer Awards which celebrate the leading companies for work life balance.

Are you looking for a career change or returning to work after a break? Why not consider a career in retail? It is not all stacking shelves and working on tills. If you have good communication skills, thrive on a challenge and want a job that is different everyday then a career in retail maybe for you.

Are you looking to get back into work after a career break? Maybe a new career in sales could be the answer for you. It can be a rewarding and well paid job. If you are an effective communicator, self motivated, well organised and thrive on a challenge, then sales is a good career choice for you.

Thirty outstanding UK organisations have today achieved a place on the Top Employers for Working Families A-Z list and a further 12 have won a Top Employers for Working Families 2010 award. To win a place on the A-Z list or an award, organisations had to demonstrate how they truly embed family-friendly working practices into their culture. With 40 per cent of the workforce having responsibilities for dependents – either children or parents – it is becoming increasingly important for organisations to …

The deadline for Top Employers for Working Families 2010 Awards is Wednesday 30th June.  For more info please visit: http://www.topemployersforworkingfamilies.org.uk/

The Fawcett Society’s new report calculates the impact that becoming a mum has on a woman’s earnings. The report, ‘Not having it all: How motherhood reduces women’s pay and employment prospects’  is a new survey of existing research, drawing together the most recent data from academic and government sources. It finds that:

Before becoming parents, men and women are equally likely to be employed but childbirth marks the start of a great divide which continues even after children have left home. Just over half (57%) of mothers with children under 5 …

A survey by Careers4London.com reveals 98 per cent of Brits would prefer a local job with under an hour’s commute. Increased fuel prices, issues with poor public transport, congestion charges and the cost of running a car for a long daily commute, not to mention the impact this has on work/life balance and the environment, is forcing people to re-think the location of their workplace. And if you have to fit in work round the school run a job nearby is even more important.
David Green at Careers4London.com explains, “Personal time …

We all know how much difference it makes if mum AND dad can work flexibly. I had a difficult pregnancy with DS2, and DH’s boss was great about allowing him some flexibility when we needed it most. Business leaders and the Family and Parenting Institute are calling for more businesses to be father friendly in this article.
On the other side of the coin, over at Not Raising Brats there is an interesting post asking why women with kids earn less, but fathers salaries are not penalised. It is worth considering whether, …

Allowing people to work flexible hours can have benefits for both the employer and the employee. You may be clear about how it will benefit you and your family but If you need to persuade your employer to allow you to work flexibly, you need to come up with some plus points for him or her.
Over at Human Resourses on About.com there is a great article highlighting some ideas you might like to suggest to your boss about the benefits of flexible working for the business. There include:

increased employee morale
better …

Do you feel the emotional effects of being a working parent? Flexible working can help with some of the practical issues that arise when juggling work and home life, but, according to parenting expert and author, Sue Atkins of Positive Parents = Confident Kids, employers rarely acknowledge the emotional side to parenting.
“The real issue facing working parents is the emotional effect of being away from their family for long periods of time, and their feelings of guilt,” says Sue Atkins. “From the parents that I coach, … it is apparent that …