Grigg: ‘Shared parental leave can even out the playing field’

COMMENT: British Land chief executive Chris Grigg explains why offering the same parental leave to fathers as mothers is the right thing to do to help women balance their careers and family life Every parent is different but – as a father of five – I have some experience of the disruption that can arrive alongside a new child. Learning the idiosyncrasies of a new human being while in a sleep-deprived state can derail the plans of the most career-focused. And this disruption continues to fall – often disproportionately – on women and their careers rather than men. This poses a major obstacle to achieving equality at work. Shared parental leave is a fantastic opportunity to even out the playing field, yet take-up has been low: a recent study by UCL suggested that just 2% of eligible parents in the UK are taking advantage of the opportunity. [caption id="attachment_893521" align="alignleft" width="150"] Chris Grigg[/caption] Alongside a lack of understanding of what’s on offer and how SPL works, the financial hit that most couples experience was identified as the driving cause of this lack of traction. Enhanced maternity pay has become a key way of retaining women in the workplace, yet paternity packages still tend to rely on the statutory payment. In many companies, this makes the playing field more of a mountain range. It also demonstrates to parents that SPL is not being embraced by UK PLC. Two years ago, British Land’s entire approach to shared parental leave was changed by a recommendation to the Executive Committee from our Women’s Committee. The network emphasised that the right to time off with a new child did not eliminate the basic financial requirement to pay the bills, making reliance on the statutory payment a major obstacle for expectant fathers considering SPL. Their recommendation? That British Land equalise the financial support it provides for women and men welcoming a new child into their home. Our maternity package includes six months’ leave on full pay, so this was a bold call by the network. But it made us stop and think about what is most important to the company. The right to time off with a new child did not eliminate the basic financial requirement to pay the bills, making reliance on the statutory payment a major obstacle for expectant fathers considering SPL. We’ve made great strides forward in recent years on inclusivity, but know we have a distance to travel. With the help of the network, we recognised that tackling this gender inequality regarding parental leave was a powerful way to demonstrate our commitment to continuing that journey. As a result, regardless of their gender, anyone with two years’ service at British Land who takes leave to welcome a new child now has continuity of income for up to six months. This applies to adoptive as well as birth parents. It’s fair to say that, initially, take-up was slow. But now – from among British Land’s 230 people – we’ve had six people take shared parental leave on full pay: substantially more than had exercised their right to SPL before we introduced equal remuneration. And, after a slow start, I’m delighted that we currently have six more expectant fathers registered to take SPL in the next few months: I hope this indicates that we have reached an inflexion point. As well as being the right thing to do for our people, there is a strikingly clear benefit to our business If anyone needs convincing that this is the right thing to do, I heard from a (non-BL) colleague’s partner that, by sharing the leave following the birth of their second child, her own return to work was easier: she knew that their new son was with her partner as she re-adjusted to the demands of a career. From her partner’s perspective, it gave him a new perspective on parenthood and has made their subsequent teamwork around their child’s needs more effective. But, as well as being the right thing to do for our people, there is a strikingly clear benefit to our business: to give our customers the very best value, we need to ensure our insights and perspectives align with theirs and their own customers’, at least half of whom are women. Helping our small team feel more included, recognised and able to share their unique perspectives means we can reach the most robust decisions and innovative thinking – exactly as shown by our Women’s Committee when they first made their recommendation. We continue to explore how to make SPL more attractive to our people. The way we communicate the policy and importance of demonstrating managerial support are key next steps, but this is a journey we’re glad to be taking: after all, Sweden, which was the first country in the world to introduce shared parental leave in 1971, now enjoys one of the narrowest gender pay gaps in the world. Pic credit: I Love Images/REX/Shutterstock