Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest News

Paternity leave on the increase

by Personnel Today 6 Jun 2002
by Personnel Today 6 Jun 2002

The
CIPD says take–up of paternity
leave has increased from 9 per cent to 44 per cent during the last three years.

Getting
a Kick out of Work –
a survey of 1,000 people management professionals
looking at the range of non-financial benefits offered by organisations – finds
that flexible working is being adopted by many UK companies. But many employees
have been slow to make the most of the changes.

Duncan Brown, CIPD assistant
director general, said: "Legislation, together with
evidence of the beneficial effect on motivation and productivity, mean that more and more
organisations are putting in place policies which support flexible working. But our data indicates a policy gap in
terms of the management and take up of these arrangements.

"Our
survey shows that government
legislation on paternity leave has made an impact, though it should also be
pointed out that the proportion of fathers taking up this benefit is still
relatively low."

Brown
said that while almost half of all organisations allow their employees to work
from home, only a minority of workers take up this offer (14 per cent).

"This
shows that flexible working needs to be encouraged and embraced at all levels
if it is to be successful. 
Organisations need to foster a culture focused on objectives and outputs
rather than presenteeism, where being at the desk is more important than actual
contribution," he said.

The
survey shows almost one in four organisations reporting that senior management
is not supportive of their flexible working policies, which may explain why
such practices are not widely adopted.  

Other
findings:

•
From 1999, the number
of organisations offering paternity leave jumped from 66 per cent to 81 per
cent, while parental leave provision increased from 57 per cent to 78 per cent.

•
The number of organisations that offer staff the option of career breaks has
halved from 40 per cent in 1999, while 17 per cent offer sabbaticals (24 per
cent in 1999).

•
The public sector is leading the way in flexible working arrangements by
offering a wider variety of options and generally experiencing higher take up of flexitime. • Only 26 per cent of
private sector organisations surveyed offered flexitime, compared to almost four-fifths
(79 per cent) of public sector organisations.

•
Childcare remains an area where few employers offer options with less than one in 10 surveyed having a workplace nursery or offering childcare
subsidies and 2 per cent offering the provision of after-school care.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Brown
said: "In today’s tight labour market, employers are realising they have
to be responsive and innovative in trying to meet employee expectations. Flexible benefits that help with their
work–life balance is
part of this innovation."

By Quentin Reade

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
References not a formality for job offers
next post
UK records huge rise in homeworkers

You may also like

Employees voting with feet as return-to-office pressure increases...

15 Jul 2025

Postmasters could take ownership of Post Office

14 Jul 2025

Ethnicity and disability pay gaps: Ready to report?...

14 Jul 2025

Manager dismissed after covert recording with HR wins...

14 Jul 2025

Food sector warned it is facing a workforce...

14 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace investigation: 45 allegations upheld

14 Jul 2025

Black TV professionals’ experiences of racism are rife,...

14 Jul 2025

Steep reduction in recruitment in June

14 Jul 2025

Two-thirds drink to cope with work stress and...

14 Jul 2025

Why online training won’t help reduce sexual harassment

14 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+