Written by Eloise Spearman | Client Services Manager
Across London, campaign group Dad Shift have been tying model baby slings to famous statues, in a plea for the Government to address and improve paternity leave options across the UK. Support for fathers is raised frequently in our conversations with clients, in parental transition coaching sessions with new parents and in parental allyship with parents, colleagues and line managers.
What’s the problem?
The UK currently has the worst paternity leave offer in Europe, comprising two statutory weeks of leave which is currently paid at £184.03 a week or 90 per cent of their average weekly salary – whichever of these is lower.
Take-up of shared parental leave, which was introduced in 2015 to let parents share the load of looking after their children, is low. A study by the University of Bath, using data from 40,000 households across the UK, found that the number of fathers taking paternal leave has not increased, and the time off being taken is not longer since SPL was introduced.
Financial pressures play a key role in low up-take of parental leave. Leave in the lurch: Paternity leave, gender equality and the UK economy found that one in five dads and partners who are eligible for paternity leave take no leave at all.
The report found that where men had returned to work early, 43 per cent cited financial hardship as the reason for not taking their full entitlement.
“Two weeks paternity leave is beyond ridiculous. If employers want men to take part in sharing the mental load of parenting, it absolutely doesn't start by forcing them back to work when they have a two-week old baby. One absolutely cannot - physically and mentally - be present and useful at work with a two week old baby at home.”
The business case
There is convincing evidence that increasing paid paternity leave could benefit the economy.
Leave in the lurch indicated that increasing paid paternity leave to six weeks could reduce the gender pay gap and help to equalise men and women’s participation in the labour market. The report found that countries with more than six weeks of paid paternity leave have a 4% smaller gender wage gap and 3.7% smaller labour force participation gap.
Social stigma
Cultural bias and concerns around career progression both play a role in low uptake of paternity leave. One dad from Bristol shared his experiences of shared parental leave with BBC News, and described how taking leave came with "stigma attached to it", and said there were "some raised eyebrows" about his decision.”
One father we spoke to recently found it difficult to establish boundaries while on shared parental leave: “Parental leave is not a holiday, it is unpaid (in my case at least); I should not have felt need to be available for work, nor should team have expected it!”.
“Fathers taking extended parental leave is still uncommon in my organisation. Some colleagues don't know it's an option, and others fear that it might impact their career.”
What can you do?
Line managers
Returning parents tell us that an understanding, knowledgeable and supportive line manager is ‘make or break’ to a successful and productive return to work. However, research by Unmind found that two in five employers do not believe their manager has sufficient training or the skills, while 35% said they had previously left a job because of a bad manager.
Our suite of training, including bite-size online videos, 1:1 and group coaching for line managers, and parental allyship sessions, help to upskill managers and give the knowledge, insight and empathy necessary to offer a best practice experience to parental returners.
Clear, easy to access information
In a recent survey of parents who’ve taken parental and carers theme, a recurring theme was the difficulty of accessing information, particularly around shared parental leave.
Having one, named HR contact who is familiar with different types of parental leave, and easy to access information, is certainly appreciated by parents.
One parent suggested that employers should publish real-life case studies and examples of how shared parental leave works for both partners, especially for fathers.
“Ideally, you should have only one point of contact within HR when discussing parental leave. It was very difficult when I was passed between two people in HR as they didn't know the background information upon my return to work.”
Shifting the dial: cultural change
Cultural change sounds intimidating – where do you even start?
When helping with our clients take the first steps in creating a more inclusive, family-friendly culture, we often start with a parental awareness webinar. This one-hour, live session is designed to kick-start conversations and raise awareness of how becoming a parent impacts on women professionally, while helping colleagues from across the organisation understand the lived experience of parental returners and the role they as a colleague, partner or manager can play as allies.
1:1 support
There is definitely an appetite among employers – particularly those who already offer maternity coaching to returning mums - to extend this and offer 1:1 coaching to new fathers. If you want to support fathers returning from career breaks or extended leave to balance their professional lives with fatherhood, please get in touch.
Let’s work together
If you're keen to create a welcoming and inclusive workplace for your returning parents, get in touch to book a webinar, workshop or series of videos that will upskill your line managers, raise awareness of the lived experiences of working parents, and foster a culture of allyship and understanding within your workplace.