Paternity Leave

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Do most employers only offer the statutory amount?

The amount I'm going to lose for just two weeks off is pretty gut-wrenching. The wee bugger better be worth it!

Meanwhile wifey works for the council, earns more than me, and yet they're practically throwing money at her! Combined with her very generous annual leave allowance (and being allowed to carry days over and earn more while on maternity leave) she can take about 12 months off with hardly any loss!

I guess it's easy to be generous when they're spending my tax money!

(although obviously we're very grateful she's able to do that... just wish I could have more than 2 bloody weeks!)

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Women should definitely get more time off, that makes sense. And to be fair the statutory maternity leave isn't generous unless you're a very low earner (then I think it pretty much covers your salary for 9 months).

Yes I've been saving my annual leave, but again I only get the minimum and can't carry it over. The council gives my wife twice as much and she can carry it all over for maternity leave!

Statutory paternity leave (practically unpaid) plus annual leave... 1 month off in total at significant expense and no more days off with my new child for the rest of the year. Meh.

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Steve H said:

They aren't being prevented, they just aren't getting paid because they are not in work at the time, seems reasonable to me.

DocJock said:

Try being self-employed...

This.

I agree with you, it is reasonable in theory. No work, no pay - fine. It's also how you get employees to resent you. Your employer is telling you "we don't want you to spend a single minute with your new child, if we could we wouldn't even let you take one day off... but the government doesn't allow us to do that, so we have to let you do the bare minimum".

And I have been self employed. I am aware of both the advantages and difficulties of being self employed (I barely took a day off in 5 years, and when I did I felt too guilty and had to get back to work). But one of the advantages is flexibility. I worked from home, I could work in the evenings/weekends if I wanted to and could have been with my family during the day if I wanted to. It's different to being a 1-hour drive away from home from 08:00 to 18:30. It doesn't matter how much I'm needed - I physically can't be there.

I don't work in McDonalds. My job has low turnover. I think investing a week or two into your staff during an event which will happen at most a couple of times during their entire career - that's really not much. A lot cheaper than recruiting someone new when they inevitably find a more family-friendly job closer to home!

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roofer said:

megaphone said:

Why do you need more than a few days off? Wife has baby, all goes well, she comes home and looks after baby, you got back to work and keep the family/economy/country going.

This.

Welcome to 2016
My wife does a job that's infinitely more worthwhile to the country than mine and she also earns more than me and pays more tax than me.

Steve H said:

I don't mind if it is something that an employer wants to do as a goodwill exercise and I can see how it could be effective and have done the same myself, I just don't like it being available as a right.

Yes I agree. I think the current system where mum & dad can share statutory leave is good enough. It would be nice to have a more generous system like some of the Scandinavian countries but on a global scale I think the UK is pretty generous.
From the employer's point of view.. in a job where I have plenty of potential employers to choose from and the turnover rate is quite low (at least 5 years on average) - I think it makes sense to be more generous. A couple of weeks paid for a major event that will happen maybe twice in my entire career.... Then I'd feel they care about me and my family's well-being and I won't go looking for a better employer. It makes sense to me.

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DocJock said:

I just don't understand why people fell they should entitled to be paid for this.

If you want paid for not going to work, that is called 'holiday' and all employers provide this.

I don't think anyone on this thread said we should be entitled to it?
But employers should offer it. It makes sense.

I don't know what jobs the anti-pat-leave people here do, but in all of my jobs (software) the average amount of unpaid overtime is about an hour a day. That's about 225 hours per year - 30 extra work days per year totally unpaid!

If I have 1 baby in the 5 years (average) I stay at a job - they're getting 150 days free out of me. I think giving me back 10 paid days is reasonable?

If you say "no work = no pay"... Fine... But if you apply it the other way the employer will lose 15 times as much!

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Kermit power said:

GT03ROB said:

How did the country survive before the days of paternity leave?

Ah that's right we all used out annual leave! I got thrown out of the house after 2 days anyhow. So played golf for the rest of the time I had off.

I think we just accepted that there was a biological difference between men and women, so blokes stayed at work, didn't we?

Is this like a policy where you try to live your life as a 19th century man? Or does it only apply to your children?

I don't work in a coal mine and my wife is more educated than me. Sometimes I even make our dinner!

Shocking I know.



Also GT03ROB - getting thrown out of the house for being unhelpful and playing golf instead of spending time with your child who has only existed for 2 days?
Thats.... not something to be proud of.

We're talking about a few days of spending time with your newborn baby, not a lifetime of being bummed by strap-on wielding feminists.

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They don't crawl at 2 days old???

I'm sure my wife would appreciate as much help as possible in the days following birth. If you have other family nearby who can get time off work and help out then great, but not everyone does.

I think a couple of weeks to help my wife get back on her feet, spend time with the newborn and clean up spillages sounds like a minimum... With annual leave spread throughout the year when the baby is more entertaining.

I'm guessing anyone who only spends a day or two at home has other family taking their place...