This Online Platform Helps Parents Work More Flexibly. But It Needs More Dads.

An online platform that connects parents with family-friendly UK employers has grown to more than 4,000 members in less than two years — and now it is on the lookout for more dads.

The Daisy Chain was founded by former fashion and retail recruitment consultant Louise Deverell-Smith in June 2017, and has a strong link to real estate. More than 80 employers, including property firms like Savills and Knight Frank, have signed up to showcase positions which are family friendly in that they are either part time, freelance or offer the possibility of flexibility.

The platform is looking to broaden the range of employers using it, but also the makeup of the parents using it to find work — of the 4,000 people signed up looking for roles, about 97% are mums.

Deverell-Smith said that encouraging more dads to work flexibly would help increase gender diversity in the workforce, as it would allow families to better balance who was working and looking after children.

“I think it is still more tricky for dads to ask for shared parental leave, but it is important,” she said. “You often have senior people working flexibly, but they don’t talk about it, and those are the people who need to set the example.”

The platform has an app that essentially works like a dating app — parents that are signed up can view positions that are advertised then swipe right if they like the look of the company or a particular role. The platform then connects the two and leaves them to take it from there. Deverell-Smith said that so far the platform has seen parents find more than 150 flexible roles.