Nurturing a Healthier Approach to Paternity Leave
Published: 20/08/2018
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In this article, we are addressing the issues surrounding paternity leave. We hope to share our concerns with company founders and managing directors, as we believe they can be the progressive change in solving the problem of new fathers not receiving time off.
When two parents welcome a child into the world, it’s only right that both enjoy time off work to bond with the new baby. Though it’s now possible for parents to split parental leave, it’s still more common for mothers to take the lion’s share of it. The fathers then have around two weeks off work. However, according to data from HM Revenue and Customs obtained by law firm EMW, the number of fathers utilising their time off as a new parent has fallen for the first time in five years.
Personnel Today reports that the number of fathers taking paternity leave declined by 3.3 percent, from 221,000 to 213,500. In contrast, the number of mothers taking leave increased slightly by 0.3 percent. Given that we live in the era of gender quality movements, these numbers are unsettling. So, let’s explore their causes.
Granting equal gender rights is a sign of a healthy and modern workplace. Such qualities make it attractive to potential hires and work wonders for talent retention. Another benefit is that raising morale increases performance. Despite many fathers choosing not to take it, they are entitled to paternity leave.
Diversity, equality, and inclusion are among the most pressing topics in the world and are rapidly translating into the corporate environment. A lack of any of these can lead to negative business publicity and, subsequently, result in a loss of revenue. When discussing the establishment of equal rights, we often associate it with empowering women based on historical context. This association complicates the concept of paternity leave for some companies. As long as fathers notify their employers about the baby is due date 15 weeks in advance, they are legally entitled to paid paternity leave. If they wish to change the date of the parental leave, they're required to give a 28 days notice.
Although paternity leave has become a more welcome practice among employers in recent years, it still causes controversy—even among staff. Despite companies celebrating the idea of paternal leave, employees often fear judgement and ‘looks’ from their colleagues. Therefore, they choose to miss out on taking time off and accepting statutory paternity pay.
A significant reason behind this is gender stereotypes. Although they have changed substantially over the last few decades, most still persist. For instance, while more women are entering the workforce and are recognised as being as competent as men, they are still perceived as warm, nurturing, and caring—overall better suited for childcare.
These are often internalised stereotypes. Men begin to believe they are not as well-suited to care for the newborn as their female partners. This discourages them from taking parental leave, as they doubt their capabilities. Consequently, they often choose to be the breadwinner while their partner resumes caring for the baby.
Gender stereotypes create another issue often linked to parental leave: the judgement of peers. The stereotypes mentioned above may not originate from the father himself, but rather from his colleagues. Consequently, this leads them to perceive the new parent as weak or lacking commitment to work. There's an even bigger controversy in situations when the person isn't a biological father but is instead married to the civil partner and assigned as a legal parent when baby is born, despite being legally eligible for paternity leave and pay.
The negative opinion contributes to a hostile work environment. If left unaddressed, it can cause irreparable damage to office culture, team alignment, and productivity. The new father may risk demotion or termination if management shares similar views.
As a decision-maker in your company, you are responsible for fighting the above-described issues within your organisation. While paternity leave is a legal right of the employees, your company can benefit from nurturing a healthy approach to it.
The corporate world has improved massively in creating equal opportunities and requirements for men and women. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to develop and nurture gender equality as a mindset.
While issues such as the gender pay gap and stunted growth have been significantly addressed, many others still require attention. An approach to paternity leave is one of them. By fostering a culture that embraces male employees taking time off to care for their newborn babies, you position your organisation as modern and demonstrate that you care for your workforce. While maternity leave can extend up to 52 weeks, the government has legalised sharing it among partners, which applies even when adopting a child. In other words, statutory paternity leave is intended to be flexible and serve both parties, which is why companies should encourage it rather than impose penalties.
Caring for your staff doesn’t just make you look good as a company. It makes your employees trust you. They will remember if you prioritise their needs, such as spending more time with their new baby. Naturally, when you look out for someone, they are likely to look out for you too.
First, it’s because of gratitude or because they feel like they have to return the favour. However, this becomes the foundation of a trust-driven relationship. Stronger relationships lead to a better understanding of one another’s needs, which leads to better alignment and, therefore, better results.
Let’s clarify that paternity leave requests, unlike casual time off requests, cannot be rejected unless they don’t meet very specific criteria. You cannot force them upon your staff either. What you can do is encourage them to take it. Best do it in a private one-to-one conversation, where you openly state you care for your employees and don’t want them to miss out on spending time with their new family member, as well as remind them that they're legally entitled to statutory paternity.
We understand it might be in your interest to have them attend to their duties as opposed to having them off. This may cause productivity issues within your organisation. However, expecting fathers are required to give a rather long notice before the due date. It leaves you plenty of time to prepare your business for their absence. And the best way of doing that is by adopting holiday tracking software.
Historically, Holiday approval has been problematic when handled via email instead of a centralised system. It’s prone to human error, such as forgetting to approve time off or not adding it to the calendar.
Our Project edition offers an easy-to-use holiday tracking module. This module allows you to approve parental leave requests as soon as they arrive. It also makes the time the employee takes off visible to the entire team and handles financial tasks such as carry-over balances, holiday accrual, etc.
Employers should feel encouraged to promote and support shared parental leave among employees. They should focus on building a culture that accepts paternity leave and be ready as a business to remain functional when employees take it.
Using innovative online timesheet software can help you effectively manage time off among your staff. The holiday tracking software grants you a centralised location to approve and manage staff annual leave and track absence and parental leave.
Are you ready to start nurturing a healthier approach to paternity leave in your organisation? Give our staff holiday tracking module a go.