Alan Fitness, his son Ben, 2, and daughter Jessica, 7, watch the gaff-rigged Nova Scotia schooner Pinky 2 sailed by John Laker, at this year's Fathers Day regatta in Waihi. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times.

Alan Fitness, his son Ben, 2, and daughter Jessica, 7, watch the gaff-rigged Nova Scotia schooner Pinky 2 sailed by John Laker, at this year's Fathers Day regatta in Waihi. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times.

In Steve Biddulph's book Raising Boys, he says if you routinely work 55 to 60-hour weeks including travel time, you are not cutting it as a dad. Next time you consider a promotion, think about what it will involve, he says. Try telling your boss: "My kids come first."

How many working dads are telling their workplaces that their job as a father comes first? It would take a brave man in this climate.

Andy Levien has been braver than most, helped by the fact that his wife is in a full-time corporate job. When he and his wife, Emma Rutherford, had Annabel seven years ago, he was working in a manager role but he and Emma split the childcare down the middle. He would work three days one week, then have two days at home and they would switch the following week. It was not easy, he remembers. "In hindsight it was pretty much impossible."

These days, he is the one more likely to get to the school assembly, go on the school trip or do the walking school bus, rather than Rutherford, who works at TVNZ.

"I am far more flexible than Emma. She is more corporate than I am. I am working for a company that is privately owned, whereas she's working for the big corporate."

When the kids recently had chicken pox, Levien, who has a senior role in a property management company, was the one at home working.

"You just work around what the kids are doing, what's priority for the kids. I don't want to miss a school assembly. You know that if you miss out on them, it's lost forever."

Despite his flexible schedule, Levien is an incredibly hard worker, he just works at times when no one else does. He is usually home for dinner but will often return to work in the evenings to catch up on emails.

The recession has revived more of a bums-on-seats mentality among employers and Levien is fully aware of this but says he "knows his worth".

"I am definitely more aware in this climate that I have to be more visible in what I am doing. I am more upfront in what I am doing. I let the boss know every Thursday that I am doing walking bus or, by the same token, that I've got a few quotes to do so I will be in at work that night."

The trick is to be transparent, he says. Levien dishes out flexibility too. When someone from his team asks to pick up the kids from school, he will listen to them too. "At the end of the day, it's give and take. I will only do it for workers who are hard workers and who will do things for me.