Press Releases
Wait 'til your father gets home?
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
Stephen Overell
Though the CBI is arguing that more leave will be a burden, poor uptake with the current entitlement shows that business really has nothing to worry about.
As it stands new dads can take two weeks leave and be paid £106per week. Less than 20 per cent of those eligible take the opportunity*, far short of the projected 80% uptake originally forecast when the Government introduced paternity leave in 2003.
Money is likely to be a major reason. Few families can get by on combined maternity and paternity pay over those weeks. New fathers are more likely to take annual leave than to take up the statutory leave and a drop in income. Sharing leave would mean one parent could remain fully employed all the time.
David Coats - Associate Director, Policy at The Work Foundation states:
'Even in European countries where paternity leave is flexible and generously paid uptake is relatively low. If the government is serious about helping hardworking families balance their commitments it should offer real incentives like paid leave and transferability'
Long hours working and presenteeism is also an explanation for low take-up and an endemic problem in Britain, presenting perhaps the greatest hurdle for fathers to get home to their young families. Research from The Work Foundation looking at long hours working across Europe found that men are particularly unable to balance long hours and family and social commitments, as Professor Marc Cowling indicates:
'Recession over the 1990s and changing employment patterns has done nothing to help men feel secure about their jobs. Our research shows that men in Britain work some of the longest hours Europe and it has become an accepted part of our culture.'
The culture of presenteeism also creates fears about career death and may explain low uptake. For the majority of people parenthood comes at a time when their careers are on the rise. The Government should consider how flexible working policies can be adapted in different ways to suit the needs of employer and employee.
Alexandra Jones - Associate Director, Research suggests:
'Flexible working policies should recognise that different individuals have different needs at different times in their working lives. Offering different options responds better to employer and employees - for example, being able to take paternity leave at a rate of one day a week over a period of time may be more manageable for employers and encourage greater uptake.'
Notes to Editors:
- *Statistic from Calpol Survey 2004 reported by Fathers Direct.
- Alexandra Jones, David Coats and Marc Cowling are available for interview
- 'Still at Work: An Empirical Test of Competing Theories of the Long Hours Culture', by Professor Marc Cowling is available from the Press Office
- The Work Foundation is an independent, not-for-dividend, evidence-based research organisation &consultancy.
- The Work Foundation exists to inspire and deliver improvements to performance through improving the quality of working life. It believes that productive, high performance organisations are those committed to making work more fulfilling, fun, inspirational and effective, and through engaging their workforce succeed in integrating the many aims crucial to organisational success.
For further information contact The Work Foundation Press office, tel: 020 7976 3507
For further information on work-life balance issues, see the independent site run by The Work Foundation