Background
Paternity leave was introduced in the UK in 2002, with shared parental leave (SPL), an additional form of family leave, brought in April 2015 to give parents more flexibility over how they share childcare during the first year of their child’s life (or an adoption). As well as allowing some sharing of these initial parental responsibilities, SPL allows flexibility, for example, parents may take leave at the same time as each other or in coordinated multiple periods. There is a statutory of minimum paid and unpaid leave allowance, though some employers offer an enhanced package of leave and support. The numbers of men taking leave to take on a share of parenting have, however, been consistently low. Estimates from 2019/20, for example, showed that only 3.6% of eligible fathers took advantage of their shared parental leave entitlement meaning that mothers take up much of the burden. There has, though, been the beginning of a cultural shift in some sectors where hybrid/home working has allowed fathers to be more involved in childcare.
A government report has been published analysing the extent to which shared parental leave (SPL) has achieved its original objectives. Take-up remains very low with only 1% of employee mothers and 5% of employee fathers or partners taking SPL following the birth or adoption of their child. Take up varies: it is high for fathers and partners in central government organisations, predominantly female workplaces and organisations with a trade union presence. Parents taking up SPL and Statutory Shared Parental Pay are more likely to be older, white, highly qualified, working large organisations, on a high income, and have progressive gender role attitudes compared to those who do not take these up.
What are the benefits of men taking paternity leave?
Paternity leave offers many benefits on a personal level, allowing fathers to bond with their child and families to spread the childcare burden. This can also be advantageous to employers through fostering better employee mental health and wellbeing and work-life balance. It can offer career opportunities for other employees if they are given the chance to act-up or take on some new responsibilities to cover parental leave periods for short secondments. This can contribute to staff development, succession planning and increase the skills of the talent pool in your organisation.
Research has also shown that flexible working is appealing to fathers and increases the likelihood of them staying with an employer with positive benefits on both their motivation at work and their productivity. Some employers also offer enhanced paternity leave, which can make them more competitive in the labour market.
What can employers do?
It is important to recognise the barriers to this. Men often face a stigma attached to taking paternity leave, have concerns about the potential impact on their career, feel anxious about returning to the workplace and have concerns about the levels of support they will receive from their employer. More information and advice on returning to work can be found here. The low rate of statutory paternity pay can also act as a barrier to take-up. There is a lack of information about entitlements, with polls showing that men would like more information about paternity rights and their employers’ policies.
Some potential ways to increase paternity leave take-up are to:
- Consider the longer-term benefits of offering an enhanced package of paid paternity leave, which can make good business sense in terms of loyalty, engagement, retention and productivity.
- Improve communication of their policies, and where possible (primarily for larger employers) ensure that line managers and HR staff are trained in this area. Smaller employers may not be able to do this but can make full use of tools from government and third-sector organisations to consider the options and enhance and promote their policies.
- Create a more open culture for men around potential leave through communication of policies, encouraging and supporting parents’ networks, training and encouraging line managers to challenge negative attitudes and through senior employees openly supporting paternity and shared parental leave.
- Recognise the challenges that your employees might face when returning after a period of leave, particularly if this has been extended. This might include providing some ‘keeping in touch’ days or allowing phased returns to work.
- Understand that parenting and fatherhood can involve a wide range of activities, not just for new-born children where there is some statutory provision in place, but also prior to the birth (eg, antenatal appointments), the needs of an older adopted child, children’s sickness or medical needs, etc.
Some ideas for action
- Providing a one-to-one meeting with HR and/or line manager to discuss leave options and other entitlements.
- Assigning a workplace buddy who keeps in contact during the leave period, enabling current parents to support new and returning parents. One employer offers a mentoring scheme for parents and carers and matches new dads or dads-to-be with seasoned parents who can guide them through their re-entry to the workplace.
- Putting in place a return-to-work plan to ease the transition. Examples of what to include and general good-practice tips can be found here.
- Introducing a ‘bring your kids to work’ or family day and encouraging both fathers and mothers to take part.
- Promoting flexible working as being beneficial to both women and men, to challenge the traditional stereotype of these working patterns only being suitable for women with children.
- Encouraging a community of parents and carers to support each other and having a forum to discuss challenges, plus share experiences, insights and advice. There are a number of ways of providing support for this, providing a platform for communication (online or otherwise) and organising events. Larger employers might, for example, support a working father’s group, and smaller employers might find ways to link up with existing online communities.
- Recognise that supporting parenthood is not just about those who have young and pre-school children, but also those who have older children and may also be in need of similar support structures.
- Providing information on webinars, speaker events, etc on work and fatherhood.
- Encouraging senior employees (both women and men) to take time out to accommodate family life and do so visibly.
- Obtaining feedback from employees who are fathers to ensure that they learn from their experiences. Tracking uptake of paternity and shared parental leave to understand what is working and identify potential barriers to overcome.
- Taking the view that adoption is simply another route to parenthood and should be supported in exactly the same way as having one’s own child.
Information on the legal position relating to Shared parental leave (birth and adoption)]; paternity policy; statutory payments for paternity, adoption and shared parental leave can be found via each hyperlink.
For some additional reading and resources for this page click here.
