Personnel Today has reported that almost two-fifths of employees who plan to have children in the future expect to take shared parental leave – a significant increase on the 7% who say they have taken it so far, a survey has found.
A YouGov survey of 1,000 employees and 500 senior HR decision-makers found employers had begun to see an increase in shared parental leave requests.
What is shared parental leave?
Shared parental leave was introduced in 2015 to offer choice for eligible parents to split the available 52 weeks leave between them following the birth or adoption of a child.
When the changes were announced, the Institute of Directors business group said the plan was a ‘nightmare’ that would ‘heap yet more burdens on struggling employers’. However, despite Government figures suggesting that initial take-up had been low (4% of eligible families), HR decision-makers told researchers that they had seen an increase in requests for shared parental leave and working hours being adapted to accommodate two working parents with one manager at a consultancy business saying that 20% of new mothers had taken shared parental leave over the past two-and-a-half years.
Shared parental leave report
The report also looks at how organisations were accommodating flexible working requests. Most HR decision-makers (72%) felt that offering flexible working was important for recruitment and retention, while 69% of employees said it was important when considering a new role.
As a nation, our attitudes to family life and parental roles has changed over the years. However, despite employers recognising how important flexible working is to employees, 78% of HR professionals found there were barriers to offering it in their organisation. Their biggest concern was the impact it would have on employees’ ability to carry out their job effectively (cited by 39%). Of course, many businesses have legitimate operational reasons why they simply cannot agree to a certain working pattern.
Comment
Views are still mixed on this subject and certainly employers have reported teething problems with administering this different type of system. However, now that the rules are bedded in and employees are more aware of their options, the more people requesting to take it the less unusual it is as a concept!
How Nelsons can help
For further information or advice in relation to the subjects discussed in this article, please contact a member of our expert Employment Law team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.