Shared Parental Leave - encouraging more blokes to take it

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HellsBells said:
Following on from the Mat Leave for MP thread in the Politics Forum, didn’t want to totally derail it:

This year I’m working on trying to increase the uptake in our company of Shared Parental Leave in men. So couple of qs for you chaps:

a) were you aware that you could take “maternity leave” of up to 12 months?
B) What’s stopping you take it/what’s stopped you in the past?
C) what could your company do (sensible solutions please!) to encourage you to take Shared Parental Leave if you were having a baby?

Thanks gents.
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A - yes
B - financial loss / annual performance related bonus, detrimental to career both internally and externally.
C - only works in certain sectors and careers but should be very specific to the sector/company. Plumber in Sunderland v lawyer in the city very different.
 


I got two months full pay. Think the missus should get the bulk as she went through the labour (if she wants it that is).

Think our boy had a couple of days off and that was enough for him :lol:
 
Chop Sauce said:
A - yes
B - financial loss / annual performance related bonus, detrimental to career both internally and externally.
C - only works in certain sectors and careers but should be very specific to the sector/company. Plumber in Sunderland v lawyer in the city very different.
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Would the Financial loss be because you earn more than her?
And can you explain your last point please? I’m not sure what you mean. Thanks :)
 
HellsBells said:
So perhaps one way for your company to encourage you to take SPL would be to pay you a decent Parental Leave pay? For example if you got an equivalent “maternity pay” would you take some time off?
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If I got paid full whack I’d have taken longer, maybe a month? After that though I’d be done in and wanting to go back to work.
 
royalmush83 said:
If I got paid full whack I’d have taken longer, maybe a month? After that though I’d be done in and wanting to go back to work.
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Tbh there are few women in that boat, mate :D

Seriously though, in Sweden and Iceland you’d get the chance to do just that (think Sweden is 80% pay). Over here you could potentially do that, although it would depend on your employer - if you worked for mine you could do that for instance.
 
HellsBells said:
Would the Financial loss be because you earn more than her?
And can you explain your last point please? I’m not sure what you mean. Thanks :)
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Earn much more than her and how can I expect a performance related bonus which I rely upon if I haven’t been there to earn one.
last point - if you are client facing/relationship sales driven and you go missing for up to 12 months then clients go elsewhere internally or externally. If you’re project based be it manual or office then it’s less of an issue.
 
Chop Sauce said:
Earn much more than her and how can I expect a performance related bonus which I rely upon if I haven’t been there to earn one.
last point - if you are client facing/relationship sales driven and you go missing for up to 12 months then clients go elsewhere internally or externally. If you’re project based be it manual or office then it’s less of an issue.
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Our place allegedly only assess the period you are in work. So you can get a full year's bonus even if you've been off 9 months. And you accrue holidays while you're off (personally find that a bit mad).

That's for mat leave like, pat leave is currently 4 weeks, but in theory there's a way round the bonus issue.
 
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Chop Sauce said:
Earn much more than her and how can I expect a performance related bonus which I rely upon if I haven’t been there to earn one.
last point - if you are client facing/relationship sales driven and you go missing for up to 12 months then clients go elsewhere internally or externally. If you’re project based be it manual or office then it’s less of an issue.
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Indeed. And women always have to weigh up these kinds of issues when determining how long to take off. The idea of SPL is that it shouldn’t only be an issue for the woman.

To address a couple of your points - for Mat leave (and therefore I assume SPL) if you come back before six months is up, they are legally obliged to give you exactly the same role back (hence why a lot of women in client roles like you describe, come back after six months).

Also re bonuses - indeed, women who take Mat leave often end up with no bonus - hence the Gender Pay Gap. It should be noted that some companies opt to pay a bonus even if someone hadn’t been working for that period of time. It’s therefore a bonus based on your potential and future value to the company (ie we want to keep you) rather than one based on what you have delivered. Those are few and far between however, and are often in larger professional services firms for instance.
 
Too old now but
a) yes
b) I think the woman gets first dibs on any leave. It’s more natural, breast feeding, nurturing. All the old out moded concepts that just make sense. Also, the mother will need a little time to recover. Stitches and the like.
c) The culture of if the firm would have to be one where it was obvious that they weren’t going to discriminate.


I’m not against the concept but it isn’t something I would use unless it was what a partner I had needed me to use it.
 
soapster said:
Of course you have not asked them all, but how many have you asked.
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Well I’m on the committee of our Company’s Families network and we’ve done quite a few surveys, if that’s what you mean?

Is your point that women might not want to give up their leave to men? You’re right they might not. But they also might. And I’m trying to increase the awareness and take up of SPL in men, and I can’t control the women in those relationships because they don’t work for us, by definition. Their partners do.
 
Mental really like people can take this amount of time off and potentially leave a small company in the shit.

I certainly couldn’t and wouldn’t stand for it.
 
Gillythedilf said:
Mental really like people can take this amount of time off and potentially leave a small company in the shit.

I certainly couldn’t and wouldn’t stand for it.
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Well if a man shares leave with his wife, then they’ll take less time off in total (eg max six months) rather than max 12 months so it’s actually better for businesses.
 
Gillythedilf said:
Id finish them at the 1st opportunity.
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Then you're a disgusting employer and I hope the tribunal would be expensive for you.
Gillythedilf said:
How do you expect a small company who’s living month to month to afford to accommodate this?
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If they're a viable business then they'll have to budget for the potential. Just hire a temp or whatever.
 
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AndrewP said:
Then you're a disgusting employer and I hope the tribunal would be expensive for you.
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:lol:
I look after people mate but there is no way I’d let people take the piss.Because that’s what it looks like to me.

Yous all wonder why people employed in loads of industries are now class as self employed.It’s because of piss takes like this.
 
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