The shared parental leave policy for employees comes into effect for babies due April 5th 2015 or after, where after the compulsory two weeks of maternity leave, parents can alternate or take time together to look after the child. This extended time means that over the 50 weeks following the initial 2-week mandatory maternity leave, parents can stay home to look after the newborn, either alternating their time or both taking the same time period off from work. This provides more choice and flexibility about which parent stays to look after the baby and for how long. This policy should help increase parents’ ties to their children, while assisting due attention to work.
While the new legislation replaces the current ‘additional paternal leave’ system, there will be an overlapping period, where both legislations will run in conjunction.
Henceforth the leave policy will need to clearly set out the following:
- Eligibility in terms of which employees can apply
- Process on how to apply, notice periods and implementation
- The agreement terms and any variations
- The rate at which, payments are to be made to the staff members making use of this legislation
According to a 2009/10 governmental study, only 2% of new fathers at the managerial level had utilised paternal leave for more than 2 weeks. In the case of employees at other levels, only about 9% seemed to have availed themselves of the facility, indicating that there is a low take-up rate, which might be reflected in the new legislation too. However, companies will need to answer on this matter from Autumn.
