AIBU to ask what you want for a maternity leave package?

[lovelymama]

Posted this in the 'work' section but didn't get a response so trying here instead. I set up a company last year and I'm getting my maternity policy in place but I want to know what people really want from a maternity/parental leave package. I'm keen to recruit more women and part of this is creating an attractive maternity policy. Keen to hear from people what they consider to be important.

We are a small IT company. The roles are skilled - coding. Salaries are in line with industry standard/maybe slightly higher, pension, bonus, health care. We don't have offices so WFH is standard. We're looking at offering between 4-6 months full pay then the remaining time (up to 12 months) statutory maternity pay. We are sorting Child Care vouchers for return to work.

So is there anything else you can think of that you would value as a working parent? Doesn't have to be financial, could be other things that make life easier as a working parent.

Any comments welcome!

Flexible hours on top of the WFH. Not to accommodate looking after small kids but to allow for school runs during the day.

Community / group supporting returning parents assuming the company size allows. Buddy system with other working parents.

Real examples of successful females in leadership roles on part time basis.

My employer offers nursery paid by salary sacrifice which is a huge plus if you can do it.

My company pays full pay up to EDD for babies born prematurely, then normal mat leave starts. It's been invaluable.

Obviously good maternity pay

Flexible working on return

Do you have a policy for miscarriage? I know at my work I would have been entitled to a year off, including my enhanced maternity pay, in the tragic event of a still birth

Also longer maternity leave for prem babies - my friend’s baby spent 6 months in hospital so she “lost” most of her mat leave

A decent paternity package to go with it - obviously the likelihood of both parents working for the same company is small, but I'd like to know that the company I worked for didn't just assume that the women should assume the majority of the burden of childcare in the first year. Also - this obviously goes beyond maternity/paternity, but the organisation I work for (which is based outside the UK, although I am in the UK) offers some days of paid leave to care for a sick child - inevitably it is not enough to manage the deluge of sickness when baby starts nursery (especially as my partner does not have the same allowance) but still invaluable

6 months full pay is what I would be looking for. In my industry, 4 months is considered stingy. You can always require some/all of the enhanced package to be repaid if people don’t return to work after parental leave.

Agree that the flexible working post-maternity is more important than months paid, though.

Keeping in touch days would be beneficial to both mother and business

6 months full paid and the option of phased return without using annual leave would appeal!

Proper paid, non transferable paternity pay so that fathers can take proper time off (and not just in the first couple of weeks)

6 months full pay. Flexible working on return. Part time working offered on return. A carers leave allowance (for all staff) paid a week pro rata.

I'd also consider offering enhanced paternity leave if you can do it. I know of a company that offers 6 weeks paternity leave fully paid to use at any time in the first year of life.

Thanks for the responses so far - we're a small company (40 people at the moment) but growing. I'm really keen to get parental leave in place instead of maternity leave but have to balance it with size of company and costs so trying to get the balance right on that one.

The flexibility is something we can easily offer - as long as the work is done we don't really mind when it's done.

Thanks again - really want to make this work for parents

@MyAnacondaMight

6 months full pay is what I would be looking for. In my industry, 4 months is considered stingy. You can always require some/all of the enhanced package to be repaid if people don’t return to work after parental leave.

Agree that the flexible working post-maternity is more important than months paid, though.

Do you mind me asking if you're in IT? Most companies I've looked up (even the really big companies) offer 16-24 weeks full pay, 4-6 months seems to be considered 'very good maternity pay'....just based on research I've done so far

I believe one big employer in our area introduced the possibility of term-time only contracts, as well as general flexible working hours. I suspect that's something that can only be managed in a larger company, though.

But if you can offer flexible working to the extent of core hours that fit within school hours, and part-time always an option (perhaps with a minimum number of hours), then that might be very attractive. Make it for both men and women - there are SAHDs out there with coding skills, too.

Yy to offering term time roles and the option of job shares.

In my role I have a manic fortnight and a quiet fortnight. Will the management consider letting part timers work twweeklks full time followed by two weeks off? Nope. And for literally no reason.

Whereas the law stipulates mat leave for women who have had stillbirths after 24 weeks, I would suggest you offer something equivalent for earlier losses. I lost twins just before the cut-off, and the way my boss sorted extra paid leave for me did help a little.

A premature or ill (nicu) policy. It will become law in the next few years but a good policy shows that you care and are a forward thinking company.
So for example I had a baby at 28+1 who spent 108 days in nicu so discharged after his due date. That was over three months of being in hospital and not doing the normal mum and baby things. We were worried about money as having a child in nicu is expensive (think the average for a micro Prem is about 2k) and if your a middle wage earner get no help from the government. Then once home the hospital visits don't just vanish they can be ongoing for months / years

So a policy that pays a full wage while baby is in care and that adds the time on to the end of the end of normal mat leave.

The chances are slim that you would have to use this policy but Christ it would make the world of different to that one lady that had to use it

www.thesmallestthings.org/

This is a great charity that offer templates for such policy's and if you sign up they give you a badge ' employer with heart' campaign

I would also say that dads should be involved in this policy ( maybe not the added on leave but paid leave while child is in nicu Plus the normal two weeks when the baby comes home), as a lot of the time they are forced back to work while leaving their critically Ill child in hospital with just mum coping on her own.

I like the option I have to average my pay out over the time off, saves a large drop.

Childcare vouchers are not open to new applicants any longer.

I'm pregnant at the moment so can only go by what I Think I want, rather than actually having experience.
I think it's really unfair to do an enhanced maternity package but not extend that to shared parental leave. My husband is going to be doing SPL but unlike the females in his role he will only get statutory pay where they get full pay for 18 weeks.

My work only offer statutory - which isn't great but is up to them. Either way I know I want to go back to work relatively early. The ability for me to work from home and be able to breast feed is really important to me. Plus flexibility. I want to be able to take my baby to classes etc so I've agreed when I go back, rather than taking all my holiday at once, I will do 3/4 days for as long as my holiday allows.

I think it's the little things that make the big difference. Support and understanding from your employer. Feeling they are genuinely happy for you and support a good work life balance. However you will clearly give that to your staff as you wouldn't be here asking if you didn't operate like that.

Should be 6 months full pay - I agree 4 is stingy. My employer (not IT) offers 5 and I think that is stingy as well!
Paid time off for fertility treatment is something my employer offers, not sure if that’s a legal requirement.
Off the back of a thread I saw the other day, make sure you have somewhere suitable for women to pump and store breast milk.

You're lucky to get anything in my area, geographically speaking. I have worked in retail buying and financial services and both offered 6 weeks full pay then statutory. Do bear this in mind when asking on here what is "good" - a friend got very generous packages twice but worked for a London bank in HR.

Agree with pp's:

Enhanced mat pay (at leave 6 months good pay).
Flexible/part time working (not just for staff coming off may leave but more generally).
Decent pat leave, it shocks me that they still only get 2 weeks in most cases.

And you need to advertise all this somewhere (job description, website ect). Most places just say 'parental leave' as a benefit to the job but that doesn't have to mean it's enhanced.

Ive just started a new job and many of the stay take time out at school picking up time to do the school run. You need to advertise that you flexible.

As a maternity package (so for the actual time off)

adjusted time for premature babies (for me that means stay in SCBU, not just 3 weeks early but can go home straight away). Not just extra time off for the mother and maybe adding extra time to the paid salary but also allow extra paid time of for the dad if he is your employee. I have seen it with friends how much time and money is involved in the weeks of hospital stay.

Regular updates during maternity leave of company news. Access to training, workshops, meetings with colleagues. Nothing is worse than coming back after a year and you miss out on development and knowledge. Getting a buddy for the first couple of weeks to go back into the job.

Offer to add holiday allowance to the end of the maternity leave if people want to have another couple of weeks but with full pay again.

Depending on your pension: if you allow additional contribution maybe take over a percentage of what the parent pays (esp during the statuary times) or allow them to pay it during leave.

Make crystal clear what you requirements are for paying the exttra salary. Lots of companies will put a time frame in how long an employee needs to stay after returning. Make it realistic.

See if your health insurance covers PND treatment, mine had and it was so worth it not waiting for the NHS to deal with it.

Paternity pay: be a bit generous and offer more than two weeks statuary pay. Maybe allow a certain amount of time to be taken during the first year (we hit rock bottom at 7 months, DH taken time off was a god send). Allow paid time off for partner's scans and if there are medical issues.

@TuftyMarmoset

Should be 6 months full pay - I agree 4 is stingy. My employer (not IT) offers 5 and I think that is stingy as well! Paid time off for fertility treatment is something my employer offers, not sure if that’s a legal requirement. Off the back of a thread I saw the other day, make sure you have somewhere suitable for women to pump and store breast milk.

You're the second person on the thread to say 4 months is stingy but from the research I've done, the highest rated companies for maternity pay are offering 4 months, some 6 months, but really very few, and 4 months seems to be thought of as very good. We're certainly not ruling out 6 months pay, we just need to make sure we can afford it as we're a small company..

If you have any sort if private health benefit (eg Simply Health), allow employees to add their children onto the scheme.

@lovelymama yes obviously don’t bankrupt yourselves but if you’re trying to attract more women you have to make it properly attractive. I was weighing up two jobs earlier this year and one offering an extra month of full pay was a plus for that one although in the end I negotiated a higher overall package with the other one. I don’t think I would consider working somewhere with less than 5 months as I know I would want to take at least 6 months, most likely a full year. As you are a small company you are unlikely to end up with loads of women off at once but it sends a better message about your company culture IMO.