Keeping Dad -
The next wave in talent retention

A radical change has just come about. It has implications for talent retention, gender diversity in senior roles... and how we perceive family roles and parenting

To explore the implications, My Family Care hosted a webinar including a guest interview with Rob Williams, Chief Executive of the Fatherhood Institute.

For most working parents expecting or adopting babies from 3rd April, 2011, the other parent in a couple can apply to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave any time from 20 weeks after the child is born or placed for adoption, assuming the mother returns to work.

Will HR Directors be troubled by a rush for the door from a worryingly large crowd of dads?

There will be pioneers who will take this up though mostly in those leading family friendly organisations where there is a policy of topping up statutory pay to enable this.

Engaging and enabling dads

Diversity leaders in organisations are talking about engaging and enabling Dads as an important effort in itself and also noting that encouraging men to share more in parenting practicalities is part of a bigger drive to level the playing field for women (who among other things may then take a shorter career break).

It also makes things better for children and their dads by strengthening bonds. This is not simply a nice-to have social contribution by employers; because where families remain stable, there is arguably an employee at the heart of it with better wellbeing & motivation. Indeed, beyond simply enabling extended paternity leave, there is a wider move make flexible working policies more gender-blind. Lottery-funded research by Lancaster University Management School and Working Families shows Dads want flexibility at work and more family involvement, and they feel better for it.

Flexible working for dads

Fathers who have some flexibility in their working arrangements reported benefits in their work relationships, sense of control at work, job security, reduction in sense of overload, commitment to their organisation, physical health and positive psychological well-being.

The charity Working Families recently carried out a survey of its member organisations asking, amongst other things whether employers would be enhancing paternity pay. The results, released on 22nd March suggested 19% of employers who had prepared had plans to provide 6 weeks full pay to dads taking additional paternity leave.

One of the large investment banks we work with has spotted ways in which this might be used for dads to take just a few weeks (perhaps a month) of leave when the mother goes back to work. Then, the family as a whole gets underway with the start of childcare happening separately from the mother's return to work. Mum goes back, dad takes leave and takes charge of setting up formal childcare before he then also returns. That way, the family unit doesn't handle two simultaneous transitions at once: the 'going back to work' one and the 'starting childcare' one.

Please get in touch for more information on this webinar and future ones.

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