UK government wants businesses to do more for new parents

Shared parental leave to level the gender playing field

As of December 1 of this year, fathers have the same rights as mothers when it comes to being absent from work after the birth of a child.

For all babies born after April 2015, employers must offer shared parental leave of up to 50 weeks, instead of the father’s usual fortnight.

Parents use maternity leave allowance

In a move that has been very well received by a generation of working mothers, fathers can now choose how to divide their paternity leave among themselves, opening the door to a much more equal division of childcare. In fact, a recent Mumsnet survey revealed that, prior to these changes, about 39% of parents had had to exhaust paid leave to support their partner and new baby in the postpartum period.

Now, it will be possible to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 39 weeks of pay in any combination, in addition to a mandatory period of 2 weeks immediately after birth, which must be taken by the mother. The message, it seems, is getting through: Recent research by outsourcing company ADP found that up to a third of prospective parents surveyed plan to take advantage of the new legislation.

Shared parental rights

However, there is little doubt that a radical cultural shift in attitudes will not happen overnight. Employers are concerned about the effect these changes will have on their workforce, and parents fear losing money and status if they leave their jobs for months and months.

However, the Scandinavian model is proof that shared parental rights can become the norm when government and business work together. In Sweden, Norway and Iceland, a percentage of the leave is reserved exclusively for parents at around 80% of their salary; the so-called “daddy fee”.

Far from creating pressure, the director of one of Norway’s largest labor associations claims that, in fact, it “strengthens the position of men in the family and women in the workplace.”

So, for the new laws to make a real difference here, the government is asking employers to take positive steps: make employees aware of their rights, align notice periods for pay and leave to simplify the system. and maintain the right for parents to return to the same job after their leave.

In return, they can hope to benefit from a system that allows them to keep talented women in the workforce and have a more motivated and productive staff as a whole.