Shared Parental Leave Survey 2015 – Results

1044 people responded to our survey, in early 2015.

Key demographics of our respondent base:

– 92% are women

– 35% are aged between 25-34 years old, 41% are between 35-44 years old, and 24% are either below 24 or above 45.

– The most common individual earning bracket is between £0k and £10k per year (37%) with 27% earning between £10k and £20k per year and    19% earned above £30k per year.

– 58% are currently employed

– 39% are planning to expand their family soon

Shared Parental Leave

29% of those questioned work in a company that offers enhanced maternity pay.

25% are not aware of shared parental leave. 41% are aware,  but would not consider it, and the rest (over 35%) are aware and would consider it as an option.

Of those that would consider it, if their company offered enhanced shared paretnal leave pay, that would make a difference to their decision (80%). If their partner’s company offered enhanced pay, 83% said it would make a difference to their decision.

Of those who would consider it, the majority would because it would help financially (51% ranked it as most important). 34% thought it would be a good bonding opportunity for their partner, and only 14% considered it important as it would enable maternity leave to have less of an effect on their career.

Only 26% understand how shared parental leave works. 41% understand it, but have questions, and 41% don’t really understand how it works.

69% of respondents would prefer their shared parental leave to overlap with their partners, but only 43% were aware this was a pattern that was available.

Most people would go to their HR departments for information about SPL (47%), with 45% opting to find out more on the internet and only 7% going direct to their line manager for information.

Only 23% are aware of available information provided by their employer regarding SPL. 49% are not sure if their employer is providing information, and 29% think that their employer is not providing information regarding SPL.

43% think that taking shared parental leave would impact their partners career progression.

35% think that sharing parental leave would have a positive impact on their career, but 42% don’t think it would make much difference.

73% don’t understand split days.

Of those not considering Shared Parental Leave, 19% say it is because of financial reasons – they can’t afford for their partner to take time off. 15% want to be the main carer for as long as possible, and 2% feel they would lose out on enhanced maternity packages.

Many feel that there will not be a big uptake due to financial reasons (25%) and that dads also have more peer pressure in a work situation (16%) which will affect the uptake. 13% think that dads just won’t be that interested in taking shared parental leave, and 8% think there is too much social pressure on mums to be the main carer.

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