It’s slowly getting better for men (Maternity/Paternity Leave)

Member Name: kca101

Product:	Maternity/Paternity Leave
Date:	30/11/00 (469 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: More and more common for paid paternity leave

Disadvantages: Too many companies still ignoring the needs of the Father

At the last company I worked for, paternity leave was unpaid and very much discouraged. Because of this, most new fathers would have to save all their holiday just to get some time with their new family. Inevitably, this meant working through other family times like Christmas and Easter and we had a very unhappy bunch of new Fathers.

Thankfully my new company (who I have only been with for 5 months) gave me an extra week’s holiday and then, because there were some complications with the birth, another week’s compassionate leave.

What a great attitude!

I now understand that from next year, 2 weeks paternity leave will be offered to all staff. Great for me, I hear you say …

However, I also understand that many UK businesses are now taking the issue of paternity leave seriously and are considering the same thing. This can only be good because although a baby is invariably much closer to the Mother in the early stages, he/she needs a Father’s love and attention too. And, probably more importantly, the Mother needs her husband/partner around to share some of the work and be supportive through a period of rapid change.

Too often we see Fathers who have their commitment to work questioned because of their devotion to their family. In my eyes a man who successfully manages family life will generally perform much better at work, even if they don’t work the 20 hours extra a man with no commitments can. A bold statement, but in my experience those people with a content personal life are less likely to bring their problems to work, will be more committed to the job and more happy. Happiness is infectious too, so Companies really should make the effort to help out.

So what do you do if your Company has no clear policy on paternity leave? I would suggest go straight to the HR or Personal Officer and talk to them. Even if they do not have a policy at the moment they will almost certainl
y be working on introducing at least a week’s paid paternity leave for next year.

Don’t forget that the Mother is entitled to Child Benefit and, if she has worked for 13 continuous weeks in the last 60 weeks she will also be entitled to Maternity Benefit (usually about £1,000 paid over 18 weeks). NikkiH has written a great review on benefits in this section – have a read if it’s relevant to you.

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