Do any parents use 4 weeks unpaid parental leave each year when returning to full time work?

[ThePoisedOpalBird]

I am potentially getting a full time job. I wont lie I am really struggling emotionally with this as I have only worked 2 days a week since ds1 was born but life is expensive and my partner is keen for me to earn more now my mat leave from ds2 is due to end so we can save to buy a house.

I have been looking at holiday allowance, bank holidays etc to see how to optimise my time with the kids.

Has anyone used a large amount of their unpaid parental leave to take extra time off each year?

I am thinking of using 4 weeks a year to boost my holiday total and increase the amount of time I get with the kids.

Does anyone else do this? Do your employers mind? I figured with holiday allowance of 5 weeks and 4 weeks of unpaid parental leave I would be almost doubling the time I get off with the kids which might help alleviate some of the sadness I feel about leaving them.

Multiple of us at my work use this each year, our employer lets us take it as long as we have enough staff members in to run (so not too many people already with paid holiday booked off already). It benefits them too as they can save money not paying us for the week.

No, you are entitled from day one now.

Do you realise that recruitment is both expensive and time consuming? Don’t bother answering, you clearly don’t care.

Do it! Like I said I've only had resistant from one employer, the others have been great. I had one colleague who was shirty about it - turned out she didn't know she could take it and thought I was getting something extra.

We factor it in to our monthly planning, so we don't have a painful month when we do take it.

More time with your kids is a great thing and you'll never get it back

At the end of the day I need a full time job. I can't exactly just not get one because I don't intend to stay there for more than 2-3 years.

I use at least 1 week a year and a few odd days as both my kids are on DLA, it hurts my bank balance for a month but as my kids can't attend holiday clubs we don't have a lot of choice. I'm glad it's there if we need it. If they are sick I make use of the carers leave first which is 2 paid days for emergencies and 3 unpaid.

What type of question is this ? The op has one life and clearly values time with her dcs, people are totally replaceable in companies . You talk about it like it’s a matter of morales 😂

Ignore that poster. Clearly a bitter employer. I'm always happy when staff move on to something else that is better for them. Obviously sad I'm losing a good member of staff, but happy for them.

You need to do what's right for you. Employees who have a better work life balance, tend to be the better employees all round.

I hope you are going to manage to sound more enthusiastic about this job at interview than you are on this thread.

I haven't used PL, ironically I'd like it more now they are 18+ and I can afford the time off better! In our (small) workplace it would cause problems if too many people were off at the same time and we have to share out school holiday time so no one gets more than 2 weeks in summer for example but provided employees were flexible on dates which it sounds as though you would be, it would work. But, entitlement or not, to make it work it would be relying on goodwill from others, give and take.

@ThePoisedOpalBird I use 5 weeks a year as I’m in further ed and we are in July . I have zero family support and I need to be off when my kids are . The idea that other people might resent it is ridiculous, if they have kids they can also take it … if not so what ?!!

Yep I took it one year… DH away for 6 months which included the summer hols-I wanted to be at home with the kids. Gave work over 8 months notice so plenty of time. It wouldn’t be something we could afford to do every year but as a once off it made sense.

I am very good at pretending to want something even if I don't so yeah I will be all sunshine and rainbows for the interview.

Yeah no issues with when I take the leave as long as I get the extra time with my kids (ideally outside of school holidays 🤣)

It is a statutory requirement but I think it’s clear that practically it isn’t that easy to implement.
With maternity cover, companies can potentially get someone else in to cover although there are financial implications.
With an additional 4 weeks to cover, who picks up this work in a small team or company?

also OP, if you have to give 1 months notice but they can delay it by 6 months you are going to have to declare your intentions reasonably early if you want to take 4 weeks off in first year.

Is there a reason why you wouldn’t go back into a management, higher paid role on 3/4 days a week out of interest?

If you do a very simple online search you will see that what op is saying is correct! It is planned in advance and a week at a time! This is on top of emergency leave.

Unfortunately my experience is in retail management and they require early starts, late nights and weekends which I can no longer do with the kids and DP hours. Hence a complete career change.

Yes use it…common practice in my work (from lower levels to partners - big global finance/legal company)

I have a team of now 11 people and 2 of them use it almost yearly ( they have 3 and 4 kids) . My husband used it last year the whole 4 weeks in one go .
Its a legal entitlement and nobody should be penalised for using it

I work in a large organisation and no one does this. Lots of us have kids n quite a few mums work part time but others do full time. U can buy extra days off and we have flexi time so can build up enough for days off too. I don’t think they wld be happy to accommodate this on a regular basis even though ur legally entitled to. I can imagine this would be a huge problem for a lot of organisations and massively frowned upon. Will stop u getting my promotions and probably a lot of folk talking behind ur back etc.

Yes - I work in a local authority and lots of parents use it - mainly to cover the summer holidays. The employers don’t seem to mind - it helps their budget if they aren’t paying us as the employees are in professional roles and their workload isn’t covered by others while they are off.

if you child is disabled you can take as individual days otherwise it’s week blocks and you must give 21 days notice I believe.

I’m using it for the first time this year - previously I avoided because of it being unpaid but after serious illness family time is now more of a priority

I have never come across this re. PL. it’s unpaid leave that all parents are entitled to . My dh had taken it many times and has been promoted with no issues. People are such begrudgers. It’s a legal entitment given to parents who are juggling work and family. Why do you think it was
even introduced.
@ThePoisedOpalBird honestly don’t worry about what posters are saying here. Life is really short .

In your experience only “bitter employers” recognise that recruitment is expensive and takes time? OK.

@ThePoisedOpalBird the only thing I’ll add op is that you sound a little resentful or annoyed at your dh . Maybe he’d like to work less or go part-time once your dcs are older, many parents mum or dad don’t love working fulltime

Not looking for any promotions or anything so I don't worry too much about that. Its just a shame spending more time with my kids will potentially cause such an issue.

I'm using it this year! Never used any, but DD needs support with her GCSEs.

I'm definitely going to take some next year - she's my third child and then the following year too.