Male employees are likely to shun the opportunity for increased paternity leave for fear of being judged, a report claims.
Of the 520 men responding to a survey by Huddersfield-based Ramsdens Solicitors, 20% of those working for a business with fewer than 10 employees took two weeks paternity leave for their last child. That compares with 57% of males employed in a large company employing 250 to 999 staff.
The Labour Party has announced plans to increase paid paternity leave to four weeks – on a use it or lose it” basis – to financially support new fathers and help them play a more hands-on role in parenting. Labour has also pledged to increase statutory paternity pay from £120 a week to £260 a week.
Gareth Dando, head of employment at Ramsdens, said: “Despite the Government extending the right to request flexible working to all employees in 2014 and further changes being implemented in 2015 regarding both partners’ right to take parental leave at the same time, males are still being dissuaded from taking their full paternity allowance and it seems this may be down to the size of the company they work for.”
Among employees of micro-businesses who said they would not take extended paternity leave, 16% said that was because they would feel uncomfortable having that much time off work. This compared with only 11% at large businesses.
Furthermore, 25% of respondents from micro-businesses said that they would feel unsupported by their boss if they were to take longer than two weeks’ paternity leave, compared with only 5% at bigger firms.
Mr Dando said: “This view may be due to them understanding the pressures that their workplace would be under if they were to take more time off to help with childcare.”
Some 33% of male micro-business employees believe their colleagues would view them negatively if they were to take more time off, because they would have to pick up the absent employee’s workload.
In a large business, where it could be seen as easier to cover for an absence member of staff, 40% thought they would be viewed with indifference against 30% whoe thought they would be viewed positively by fellow employees.
