A child disturbs his mother's work. Flexible working hours, homeworking opportunities and cover for emergencies or school holidays are the top concerns for working mothers, according to a survey.

Flexible working hours, homeworking opportunities and cover for emergencies or school holidays are the top concerns for working mothers, according to a British survey on Thursday.

The survey of 1,677 people by specialist employment advice website workingmums.co.uk showed that despite a tougher jobs climate, in which redundancies had risen dramatically during the recession, mothers clamored for a more malleable¹ schedule.

Flexible hours for full-time² jobs came top of the list for 85 percent of respondents who were asked what they thought made for a family-friendly employer. That came just ahead of homeworking opportunities.

"Flexibility³ is really key and being able to achieve an element of work/life balance," Workingmums.co.uk founder⁴ Gillian Nissim told reporters.

She said the recession had not reduced the urgency of this issue for working mums and that employers who want to be prepared for the eventual⁵ upturn⁶ would do well to listen to them rather than risk losing them to more forward-thinking rivals.

Many women said they had considered setting up their own business as a way around the flexibility problem and nearly half (45 percent) of respondents said they had looked into it.

Nissim said the workingmums.co.uk database alone showed that on average working mums have more than 15 years of work experience and a range of valuable skills picked up in the workplace and from their parenting experiences.

"So the benefits to employers of being able to accommodate a degree of flexibility is significant," she said.

Part-time work, flexibility around emergency cover or school holidays were the next highest concerns with extended maternity⁷ pay a fair distance down the list of concerns.

More than half (54 percent) of respondents said they would accept a less well-paid job in return for flexibility, with 40 percent prepared to consider this option.

职场妈妈最关心哪些问题？上周四公布的一项英国调查显示，她们最关心的是弹性工作时间、在家办公的机会以及遇到急事或学校假期能否脱得开身。

这项调查由“职场妈妈“专业招聘咨询网站（workingmums.co.uk）开展，共有1677名受访者参与。调查结果显示，尽管眼下就业形势严峻，在衰退时期各公司冗员数量剧增，但职场妈妈还是希望能有一个更为灵活的工作机制。

在被问及“家庭友好型”雇主应满足什么条件时，85%的受访者将弹性工作制列为首选。其次是在家办公的机会。

“职场妈妈”网站创始人吉莉安•尼西姆在接受记者采访时说：“弹性工作制的确很重要，能够实现工作和生活的平衡。”

她称，对于职场妈妈来说，经济衰退并没有降低这一问题的紧迫性，想为最终的经济好转做好准备的雇主们应该好好听听职场妈妈们的心声，而不是让更有远见的竞争对手将她们挖走。

很多职场妈妈称她们曾考虑过自己创业，以解决这个灵活性的问题。近半数（45%）受访者称曾认真考虑过这一方案。

尼西姆称，“职场妈妈”网站统计的一项数据表明，职场妈妈平均有15年以上的工作经验，还具备一系列从工作和育儿中得来的宝贵技能。

她说：“因此，如果雇主能引入一定的弹性机制，对于他们将很有益处。”

其次，兼职以及能抽出时间应付急事或学校假期也是全职妈妈们所关心的问题，而增加产假薪水却不是她们最关心的问题。

超过半数（54%）的受访者称，她们愿意以稍低的薪水来换取弹性工作时间。40%的受访者已准备考虑这一方案。

Vocabulary:

homeworking: 在家办公

cover for:代替（I'll cover for Jane while she's on holiday. 简休假时我替补她的工作。）

clamor: to make a clamor; raise an outcry（呼吁，大声要求；例如：The public are clamouring for a change of government. 公众呼吁撤换政府。）

malleable: adaptable or tractable（易于处理的，可塑的）

forward-thinking: planning or tending to plan for the future; forward-looking（有远见的）

maternity: of, pertaining to, or for the period in which a woman is pregnant or has just given birth to a child（怀孕，产假）