Leading employers light the path for parental leave 

Published: 13 Nov 2024

By Jane van Zyl, CEO of Working Families

The tide is turning on parental leave. Long gone are the days when the care of a young baby was assumed to be solely the responsibility of a woman. More and more, this idea appears outdated, as men feel empowered to be more involved in the early life of their child and it has become more acceptable for women to be career focused. These cultural shifts have led to parental leave becoming part of a national conversation, with the likes of DadShift drawing attention to the inequalities that persist. With the recognition that parental leave is good for both babies and parents, the call is becoming louder for longer periods of paid leave for mothers and fathers/partners, and an equalising of leave so that families can decide how they want to divide up the care of their child.  

Fortunately, the employers who have taken part in this year’s Working Families Benchmark, have shown they are already ahead of the curve and are setting the pace of change. On average, employers offered 18 weeks of fully-paid maternity leave as a day one right, 5 weeks of fully-paid paternity leave and 14 weeks of fully-paid shared parental leave. Organisations which had an equal parenting policy offered on average 21 weeks of fully-paid leave as a day one right. 

The generous leave provisions are able to address several issues at once. Firstly, longer leave for mothers enables them to take the necessary time to recover from the physical and mental challenges that come with childbirth, and to bond with their new baby without the stress of financial hardship. On average, women from lower-income families take four months less maternity leave than the average woman, so receiving full pay for longer would go some way to help women take the time they need with their baby. 

But the benefits don’t end there for women. Women’s careers bear the brunt of being the primary care givers, suffering lower promotion rates and remaining largely absent from senior leadership. Whilst the answer to solving the motherhood penalty is multifaceted, parental leave is a good start point, enabling women to return to their careers should they wish, with the security, financial and otherwise, that their young child is being cared for by their partner.  

This sharing of care, the dismantling of the ‘who cares vs who works’ binary, is a powerful jumping off point for bringing about equality. Normalising fathers stepping up to care for their baby is effective both in empowering women to participate more fully in employment, and in moving perceptions of gendered care roles forward. A system of shared parental leave, which is not without its flaws, or better still, equalised parental leave, is a huge step toward a society where parents rather than policy decide what works best for their family. 

Policy, in some way, is just playing catch up – parents have always wanted to spend time with their baby. In our research on lower-income families we found that seven out of ten mothers and eight out of ten fathers who lacked access to any enhanced leave or pay reported taking less leave than they needed due to financial concerns. Unsurprisingly, where it was available, parents used the leave. Mothers who had enhanced paid leave took it, as did 6 in 10 eligible fathers, many of whom extended their leave beyond two weeks, with a fifth taking over six weeks. 

This is borne out in this year’s Benchmark. Amongst the Benchmark employers of 2024, there was a high rate of take-up of both shared parental leave (SPL) and equal parenting leave (EPL) by not only mothers but also fathers and partners. 18% of eligible fathers and partners and 5% of eligible mothers took SPL, while over a third of eligible fathers and partners (38%) and 30% of eligible mothers took EPL, compared to just 5% of eligible fathers and partners who took up SPL nationally.¹ 

So how can employers build on this success? As many Benchmark employers will tell you, policies alone are not enough. The success of a great policy is often determined by a range of others measures that uproot the ingrained culture and encourage take-up of entitlements. Role modelling at the highest levels, training to bring managers on board with an understanding of the benefits and workings of any policy are a must. In addition, making the parental leave offering clear on websites, which was only present for 58% of Benchmark employers, will not only attract a wider range of talent, but the transparency signals to prospects and employees alike that the organisation is focused on the best possible experience for parents in their workforce.  

The pace of progress for gender equality seems at times achingly slow, and in fact, gender parity went slightly backwards last year. However, thanks to campaigners and forward-thinking employers, the argument for better parental leave, in particular equalised leave, is gaining momentum and has the potential to pick up the pace toward a more equal society.  

¹ Department of Business and Trade, Shared Parental Leave evaluation report, BEIS/DBT Research Paper Series Number 2023/010, 2023.

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  Benchmark Report 2024

  This report highlights key trends and insights on flexible working, family-friendly culture, gender equality, and wellbeing practices among leading employers.

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  The Working Families Benchmark

  The Working Families benchmark is the only tool available that measures all aspects of flexible working and work-life policies and practice.

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  The Top 30 Employers in 2024

  Organisations across the UK who are leading the way in building flexible, family friendly workplaces were unveiled on 25 September, 2024.