BUSINESS FOCUS MODERN FAMILIES
An unforeseen consequence of this year’s lockdowns may well be a spike in requests for parental leave – both maternity and paternity – further down the line. Adam Bernstein looks at the implications for businesses.
A ROSE-TINTED look back at early post war history, through the medium of film and TV, shows that the demarcation of familial roles and responsibilities was generally quite distinct. Mother looked after the house and the children, father went out to work and brought home the bacon.
But in recent years the evolution of parental rights has changed the equation somewhat; it’s now not uncommon to see mother go out to work while father stays at home caring for the children. This societal sea-change has not gone unnoticed by Han-Son Lee, founder of
Daddilife.com, an online community that seeks to support fathers. Last year, Daddilife published research that it undertook to see what life was like for 1200 fathers at work: “We found that 87% of millennial dads were active in a day to day role as parents… but there is still too much of a stereotype that ‘dads should just be at work.’ It’s a position that does nothing for true gender balance and gender equality. It’s difficult to give a precise number as not all firms track it accurately, but our research shows that up to one third of new fathers are not even taking their two weeks.”
The law
Looking at the law, Arwen Makin, senior solicitor at ESP Law, notes that an employer’s obligations to men begins before a child’s birth. She says that “employees who have a qualifying relationship with a pregnant woman have a right to unpaid time off to attend antenatal or adoption appointments.” However, she points out that these are limited to no more than two occasions and lasting no more than six and a half hours each. Once the baby is born, new fathers (or the non-primary care giver in same-sex couples) are entitled to two weeks of paternity leave – to enable them to care for the child and the child’s mother.
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a right for those who have been in post for least 26 weeks by the end of the ‘qualifying week’ – the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.
Makin thinks that above all else, one of the most important things – both operationally and from an employee relations stance – “is regularly checking in with new parents to ask how they are, from a pastoral care perspective. Having a new addition to the family is often a massive change.”
This should be taken within 56 days of the birth or adoption placement and must only be taken in blocks of one or two consecutive weeks. But there is a personal cost to taking such leave. As Makin points out, the current weekly rate for statutory paternity pay is £148.68, or 90% of the employees average weekly earnings, whichever is lower – “that rate is likely to rise to £151.20 from 5 April 2020, but both entitlements only apply to those who have been employed for at least 26 weeks.”
This isn’t a king’s ransom and is all employees get unless the employer is generous and pays more contractually. As a result, Lee believes that the area of entitlements needs more reform – “in part that means more time, but really means improving the rate of statutory pay, as the current flat rate means that an increasing number of new dads are struggling to even take two weeks,” he says. A June 2017 study from the TUC; it found that one in four men who became new fathers in 2016 were not entitled to any paternity leave at all, and were forced to head back to work within days – or even hours – of the birth of their child. Statutory paternity leave itself is a relatively recent policy - only launched in 2003. Lee says “I’ve heard from hundreds, if not thousands, of new dads who all say the same thing – ‘the two weeks of statutory paternity leave simply
weren’t enough’ and it meant that when they returned to work they were physically present, but mentally in a totally different place.” But apart from statutory leave, it’s worth remembering that employees also have a right, after a qualifying period of 26 weeks of employment, to request flexible working, such as working from home. However, as Makin highlights, “although such requests must be considered, they can be refused in certain circumstances and might not be suitable for certain, hands-on, roles.” Even so, where a request is made and refused, employers need to demonstrate good and fair reasons for the denial.
A relatively recent development is shared parental leave, brought in in 2015. This enables a mother or adopter to bring their maternity leave to an end early and transfer any remaining leave and/or pay to the father.
However, it’s not been a roaring success says Makin - “take-up has been slow, but this may be due to a lack of awareness of the possibility.”
In fact, a February 2018 report on the BBC reckoned that take-up could indeed be very low. It quoted the Department for Business which said that some 285,000 couples qualified (at that time) for shared parental leave but that only 2% did so. It’s for this reason that Makin says that employers should explain to employees that shared leave is
Employers could also consider offering a temporary reduction in hours - salary pro rata - alongside flexible start and finishing times to help with school drop-off and pick-up of older children, for example. Employers must be consistent in the application of this to avoid discrimination claims. Something else not to be forgotten should be that while some employers offer an enhanced maternity policy to new mothers or primary caregivers, “recent case law,” says Makin, “has decided those same enhancements do not need to apply to shared parental leave” – although that could potentially be appealed further through the courts.
Makin adds that new fathers who feel they are ‘understood’ by their employers, particularly when it comes to such a significant period of upheaval in their lives, will often return as more engaged, positive employees. Even so, we’re back to the thorny problem that the take up remains low and traditional thinking is still prevalent.
While a business can benefit from proactively encouraging staff to take parental leave, should it be billed as an employment incentive? Lee thinks not. In his view, it’s like saying maternity leave should be part of the employment incentive. He reckons that businesses that don’t help fathers, will very soon be left looking like the odd ones out - and that will affect their recruitment and retention. BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net October 2020
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