Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace WELCOME Amanda Jones, Head of Dispute Resolution & Regulatory/ Employment Partner MMS LLP

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace Introduction to Working Families Sarah Jackson OBE, CEO, Working Families

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace Managing pregnancy and maternity successfully Rosie Wallbank, Project Manager: Economy & Employment Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity EHRC work programme April Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Presentation Research Recommendations Approach Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Research Largest scale research of its kind - questionnaire and interviews

@ehrc The good news Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc The bad news Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Recommendations 1.Leadership for change 2.Improving employer practice 3.Improving access to information and advice 4.Improving health and safety 5.Improving access to justice 6.Monitoring progress Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme

@ehrc Pregnancy and Maternity workplace programme Contact details Rosie Wallbank Project Manager: Economy and Employment Phone:

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace SPL implementation: what's working and what's challenging Mary Mercer, Associate, Working Families

Shared Parental Leave What Works and what is Challenging

Overview Findings from recent research Findings from best practice and work with companies What strategies are people using that really work and encourage take up What changes might help

Research Findings Between 0.5 and 2% of eligible fathers/partners have made use of the new provision so far 7 out of 10 employers expect take up to increase One third of employers are reporting the level of take up they expected 14% reporting lower take up than expected 11% reporting higher take up than expected 39% of organisations no take up at all Take up levels not linked to enhanced ShPP.

Pay Around one third are matching enhanced maternity pay 5% are enhancing blocks of pay Around half are offering the statutory minimum 80% enhance maternity pay

Patterns of time off Employees are more likely to request a single block or time off: 4 in 5 or 82% of employees are taking a single leave block Most taking time following paternity leave but interest also expressed in taking time at the end of the mother’s leave Where pay is matched to enhanced maternity 4 in 5 are offering the same number of weeks enhanced pay to a mother taking maternity The majority are offering enhanced pay attached to the date of the birth of the child

What’s working Repeated communication. Organisations who are communicating SPL frequently are finding good take up Responding quickly to queries Training and supporting line manager (68% of managers are neutral or unsupportive) Addressing cultural barriers (“we cannot have fathers taking six months off as well as mothers”) A focus on unconscious bias Taking continuous blocks to enable business continuity Not regarding what leave has been taken by the other parent

What is not working Suggestion that mothers not willing to give up leave but may be more willing to give up leave towards the end of maternity leave but… Coupling ShPP to the date of the birth of the child does not enable dads/partners to take paid time off The gap between companies offering enhanced maternity pay and enhanced ShPP: enhances rather than overcomes cultural barriers 90% of organisations are training less than 25% of managers in SPL Focusing on the minutiae of policy, especially what the other parent is doing.

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace Case Study Laura McKenzie, Policy Manager, People & Culture Sophie Faulkner, Reward and Policy Manager Grant Thornton

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. USER NOTE: Before populating this template with information, you will need to save it under a different name. This ensures you don’t save over your template while populating it. To do this, under File choose ‘Save as’. Rename your presentation to a relevant title, and save it in the correct location. You will then be able to click the save shortcut while creating the rest of the presentation, which will save over your file. USER NOTE: To update the information in this deck, just highlight over the text you want to update and re-type. This will ensure type sizes and locations will remain consistent throughout. A unique family offering Sophie Faulkner Laura McKenzie

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. Who are we?

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. Why we reviewed our family policies?

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. How did we do it?

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. How does our maternity/adoption policy work? Recognise every family is unique Individuals receive a family leave pot equivalent to 25% of their gross salary Decide on a weekly basis how they want to receive this, topping up any statutory pay

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. Top 3 lessons we've learned so far….. 1.It's not just about the financial support 2.The role of the people manager is key 3.Flexibility is valued by both the individual and the business

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. What's next for us?

© 2016 Grant Thornton UK LLP. All rights reserved. Thanks for listening

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace Happy to Talk Flexible Working Sarah Jackson OBE, CEO, Working Families

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the workplace Panel Discussion/ Q&A Sarah Jackson OBE, CEO, Working Families (CHAIR) Sophie Faulkner, Reward and Policy Manager, Grant Thornton Amanda Jones, Head of Dispute Resolution & Regulatory/ Employment Partner, MMS LLP Laura McKenzie, Policy Manager, People & Culture Grant Thornton Mary Mercer, Associate, Working Families Rosie Wallbank, Project Manager: Economy and Employment, EHRC

Hosted by: Working Families’ Breakfast Forum Best practice in supporting mothers and fathers in the