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 malleable schedule.

Flexible hours for full-time 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.

"Flexibility is really key and being able to achieve an element of work/life balance," Workingmums.co.uk founder 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 eventual upturn 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 maternity 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.

(Agencies)