Dads not taking paternity leave

Male workers are being put off from taking advantage of shared parental leave schemes due to the attitudes of their employers, according to new research.

The study from the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) said that fewer than 10% of new dads took more than two weeks of paternity leave. A quarter of men did not take any leave after the birth of a child.

The research was carried out ahead of the introduction of new rules on shared parental leave, which come into force in April 2015. Of the 1,000 employees surveyed, only 37% said they believed their employers were supportive of the new shared parental leave programmes. More than half (58%) said they believed their employers were supportive of men taking two weeks leave after the birth of a child. This was compared to 63% who felt their employer supported women taking the full allocation of one year after giving birth.

The other main factor behind low uptake of paternal leave was pay, according to the findings. Department for Work and Pension’s research has shown that only 9% of men are given full pay for more than two weeks, while 70% of women are paid the equivalent of their full salary for the first 38 weeks.

www.i-l-m.com/~/media/ILM%20Website/Documents/research-reports/shared-leave/ilm-shared-parental-leave-report%20pdf.ashx