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Blog posts tagged maternity leave
I blame the parents…
January 21, 2011
There’s nothing like the subject of maternity and paternity leave to get people hot under the collar. And so the news that the government is proposing a more flexible system that will encourage men and women to share parental leave has had mixed reactions in the business community.
The new approach will come into effect in 2015 and could include new provisions for parents to take time off in several short blocks.
“We support moves to make parental leave more flexible,” says Katja Hall, CBI director for employment policy — or ‘the voice of reason’, as I call her. “This will help families better balance their work and home life.” But she adds, “Any changes will need to be simple to administer and must allow firms to plan ahead to cover staff absences.”
Absolutely. No-one wants to hamstring businesses.
So what are the arguments against this new flexibility? Some business groups are saying that shorter periods of leave will be too difficult to manage. They say it’s already hard enough for small firms in particular to find cover for employees on parental leave. Some even warn that the proposals could see some small firms going out of business.
OK, it can be challenging for small firms to cover staff on leave. But it’s not impossible. Who are these totally irreplaceable people? And I really don’t buy the idea that parental leave could bring an otherwise healthy small business to its knees.
Mind you, this is the constructive criticism. The more outlandish comments online include rants about “the scroungers who see baby breeding as a way of life” and the suggestion that we “look at this question again when men start giving birth”.
Let’s stick to the facts, people. Lots of couples decide to have kids. Often both of them work. Babies need looking after. People need to work. How individual families approach the division of labour — both bread-winning and domestic duties — should be entirely up to them.
I believe that making parental leave arrangements more flexible can only be good for businesses. By spreading the leave between two parents, the absence of one individual employee is likely to be shorter. And taking that leave in shorter blocks could make it easier for businesses to manage without that employee — knowing they won’t be gone for long.
Of course it all depends how it is administered and managed. Small businesses don’t need any more red tape, that’s for sure. And while these new parental rights are to be welcomed, businesses have rights, too — the right to be kept fully informed with enough notice to make their own arrangements.
The Department for Business is to launch a consultation with businesses on this issue soon. Perhaps if the nay-sayers were to look at the proposals more constructively, instead of offering their usual knee-jerk reaction, we could develop an enlightened approach to parental leave that is good for families and good for businesses.
Paternity leave reform plans “ignore business needs”
Find out how to deal with parental leave on the Law Donut
Previous articles on parental leave
Dec 2010: Small firms applaud EU rejection of maternity pay extension
September 2010: Maternity leave extension too costly for small firms, warns BCC
March 2010: Less than a fifth of workers would take extended paternity leave
Why would ANY boss hire a woman?
December 16, 2009
As a start–up business, one of the most crucial elements will be employing a strong and reliable team. But how do you judge if someone is likely to be a reliable employee? One of the issues that can affect your team in the long term is maternity leave.
I was shocked to read Alexandra Shulman's recent article for the Daily Mail, ('Year-long maternity leave, flexi hours, four day weeks... why would ANY boss hire a woman?'), in which she argued that current maternity law is making women 'unemployable'.
I found Shulman's article particularly galling given that she is a woman with children who is in a rare position of power as editor of Vogue UK. By her own admission, she was able to go back to work after only 18 weeks off because she had, and continues to have a 'live–in nanny'. This option is off the cards for the vast majority of women, yet her article implies that those who do not, or cannot hand their children over to others are likely to deliver a less than adequate performance in the workplace.
Shulman's is an extreme view, but there is no denying that for a small business, a vital employee taking maternity leave can make things difficult, particularly in the current economic climate. Although businesses that pay £45,000 or less in gross national insurance contributions in a tax year can reclaim 100% of Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), there are other aspects to consider such as the potential costs of arranging for temporary cover. It can also have a negative effect on your team – promoting a junior employee to fill the position and then effectively demoting them once the employee on maternity leave has returned to full–time work can create resentment.
The Start Up Donut has plenty of information on the legal issues affecting maternity leave and SMP. However, I think there is more at stake here than just the law. The World Economic Forum (WEF) reported this year that the UK has slipped down the league tables for gender equality. The stats are alarming – the UK now stands at 15th out of 134 countries, a drop from ninth place in 2006. According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) women in the UK face an average pay gap of 17%, with the media blaming the gap on women taking leave or working fewer hours when they have children. Compare this to the Scandinavian countries occupying the top positions in the WEF survey, where maternal leave can be up to 12 months, but which have smaller pay gaps. Is there a cultural difference here? If the UK is to really act on the gender equality it promotes, I would argue that all businesses, whatever the size, have a responsibility to ensure that they take maternity leave seriously.
What do you think? Are you a woman who has worried about the results of taking maternity leave or experienced difficulty returning to work after taking it? Have you deliberately chosen a less competitive or pressured career so as not to face these worries in the future? Are you an employer who has hesitated to hire a woman, because, in the words of Lord Sugar, you considered it 'a bit risky'?
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