Your report on the modern workplaces consultation (Cable launches drive to revamp parents' flexible working hours, 16 May) focuses on the concerns of employers over the impact of the proposals on small businesses. But our research with Lancaster University management school (to be published on 25 May), which involved more than 1,000 fathers in the private and public sectors, shows that fathers who work flexibly are more engaged and perform better at work. Flexible working is a business benefit and employers should be welcoming it with open arms.
We are pleased to see the consultation's proposals for further reform of parental leave and, in particular, more rights for fathers. Evidence suggests that shared leave is used by mothers, so a "use it or lose it" month for fathers should stimulate take-up. We also welcome the proposal that parents could use their leave to work part-time to ease the return to work after a new baby is born. This would benefit employers, too, if employees return to work sooner on a less than full-time basis.
We are concerned, though, that there is little in the consultation paper for low-income fathers. It is adequate wage replacement that encourages fathers to take time out. Forty per cent of fathers we surveyed didn't take their two weeks of paternity leave – most because they couldn't afford it. If the government is serious about making Britain family-friendly, it needs to improve access to parental leave by paying for it properly.
Sarah Jackson
Chief executive, Working Families
• While striving for equality should always be applauded, in the case of the government's new paternity laws, the proposed changes will need careful management. At the CMI we have long been advocates of closing the gender pay gap. We also strongly believe that, alongside equality of pay for women, this is a wider issue of gender equality and men should be given equal rights to look after their newborns.
For a long time the equality debate has focused on the rights of women in the workplace. Historically, men have never enjoyed the same parenting rights as their female colleagues, and while genuine questions could be asked about whether they wanted them in the past, society has moved on. However, blanket legislation does not always work. For small and medium enterprises especially, tight profit margins will be further squeezed if the new laws are implemented. While the government needs to ensure equality is achieved, it must also take steps to help SMEs put sustainable strategic management plans in place to deal with the proposed changes.
Workplace equality should always be encouraged, but we wait with interest to see how these coalition plans will translate into reality.
Ruth Spellman
Chief executive, Chartered Management Institute