Improve your employee policies
Different organisations will provide support, choice, resources and flexibility in different ways, such as leave entitlement, pay and benefits. What you will be able to do for parents in your workplace will depend on your organisation’s size, sector, context and resources. It is important to be aware of your responsibilities as an employer and consider how your policies can benefit your employees.
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1. Audit your policies
Start with what you already have in place.
Don’t wait until someone asks, make sure you are really clear on what they are currently and benchmark them with competitors and leaders in your sector. Make sure you have a regular annual date to review your policies.
Leave Policies:
- Statutory Maternity Leave: Provides eligible employees with up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, including 39 weeks of statutory maternity pay. Note many employers offer enhanced Maternity Leave.
- Statutory Paternity Leave: Offers eligible employees up to two weeks of paternity leave, paid at the statutory rate. Note many employers now offer enhanced Paternity Leave.
- Shared Parental Leave (SPL): Allows eligible parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay following the birth or adoption of a child.
- Adoption Leave: Grants eligible employees time off for adopting a child, similar to maternity leave entitlements.
- Parental Leave: Entitles eligible employees to take up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave per child, up to their 18th birthday (limited to 4 weeks per year).
- Time Off for Dependents: Allows employees to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with emergencies involving a dependent.
Flexible Working Policies:
- Right to Request Flexible Working: All employees have the legal right to request flexible working arrangements, which employers must consider reasonably.
- Flexible Hours: Employers may offer flexible start and finish times, allowing employees to adjust their work schedule to accommodate childcare needs.
- Remote Working: Employers may offer the option to work from home or remotely, either full-time or as a hybrid arrangement.
- Part-Time Work: Reduced working hours for employees who need more time for childcare or other family responsibilities.
- Job Sharing: Two employees share the responsibilities and hours of one full-time position.
Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Policies:
- Equality Act 2010: Protects parents from discrimination based on pregnancy or maternity, ensuring fair treatment in employment.
- Equal Opportunities Policy: Ensures equal access to opportunities, training, and promotions, regardless of parental status.
It’s helpful to understand benchmarks to remain competitive. Here you can view Working Families benchmarking report.
Read our “Beginners Guide” here.
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2. Once confident in your policies, make sure they are easy to view
Government policies are frequently recognising the importance of supporting working parents and caregivers and it’s vital to stay up to date.
New policies such as neonatal care leave, the right to request flexible working from day one, should all be reflected in your employee handbook.
Don’t hide your leave policies, make sure that they are easy to find and easy to understand for current employees and potential hires.
This includes publishing details on parental leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, and shared parental leave on company websites, intranet, or in recruitment materials. NatWest has a clearly laid out website detailing what is available.
The goal is to empower employees to make informed career decisions and to create more flexible and family-friendly workplaces.
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3. Promote these policies and constantly review how they can be improved
Make sure you understand the business case for improving family policies in your business and be proud of what you offer.
Listen to employees and be prepared to understand where things are not working.
Make your policies as inclusive as possible. Tesco was the first supermarket to include kinship carers the same support as adoptive parents.
Don’t just focus on the parental leave policies, the return to work policies can be just as important in retaining great employees who can also be confident and happy parents.
Remember policies alone are not enough – they are the foundation for creating a family friendly culture, but unless they are really put into practice, modelled by leadership and regularly reviewed, then they won’t deliver the impact and the returns that your business needs.
Case study: Deloitte
In 2024, Deloitte reviewed its workplace policies and made the decision to equalise paid parenting leave. The new equal family leave policy means all Deloitte parents are eligible for 26 weeks’ fully paid leave. This was a business decision driven by data showing the significant impact of unequal parenting leave and inflexible work arrangements on women:
- Over half of working mothers (54%) say that if their partner had more parenting leave, it would help them to progress in their career.
- 57% of working mothers said they had to reduce working hours because of their co-parent’s workplace inflexibility, more than double the number of working fathers (25%).
- More than half (54%) of working parents say they would consider leaving their jobs for improved work-life balance.
Why this matters
By providing support and resources, alongside flexibility and choice, employers will not only be boosting the wellbeing and productivity of their colleagues, they will also be contributing to a society which is better positioned to take on the challenges of the future.
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