Would you and your partner take time off work if companies offered 6 months paid parental leave for all?

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Having a new baby is an exciting time regardless of whether you’re a mum or a dad, and spending time with them in those first few months is a precious experience. A year ago Aviva introduced its equal paid parental leave policy, where all employees can take up to 12 months off, with no need for mums to share their maternity allowance. With this in mind, Aviva would like to hear your thoughts on giving all parents the same amount of time off.

Here’s what Caroline Prendergast, Interim Chief People Officer at Aviva has to say: “We decided to make all parents at Aviva eligible for the same amount of paid and unpaid time off, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or how they became a parent. We thought that dads would want to spend time with their new arrivals, just as mums do. One year on, our experience shows that with financial barriers removed, they do just that.”

You can find out more about Aviva as an employer here.

If all companies offered 6 months paid parental leave, do you think your spouse or partner would be prepared take the time off work to share childcare duties? If not, why not?

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I think it's great. Not every couple fall into the default mode of the male partner being the higher earner.

When ds2 was born, I took 6 months maternity leave and then went back to work. DH then took 6 months paternity leave so that we benefitted from the remaining 3 months SMP and then he had 3 months unpaid.

I was the higher earner so it made sense for me to return to work once my additional paid leave was finished and for him, as lower earner, to take the remaining leave. If the shared leave hadn't been available, ds2 would have had to start nursery at 6 months rather than 1 year and we appreciated being able to have him at home with one of his parents for that full first year.

If DH's then-employer had been the same as Aviva, we would still have organised things in the same way as his company didn't pay any additional leave to either sex and mine had a generous entitlement for 6 months. If we'd been employed the other way round I might have returned to work a bit earlier, say at 3 months - I wouldn't have wanted to go back earlier than that.

I realise not everyone is able to share leave between parents like we did, but I think it's positive for things to be as flexible as possible to suit different situations.

It is OK for big companies who have lots of staff to offer this, but there is no way that small businesses could afford it.

XH took around a week off, half of which was when I was in hospital before the baby was born, so he went back to work around 3 days after we got home because he was self employed, so not working meant no money coming in at all.

I wouldn't have wanted to go back to work any earlier, we managed to get buy with 9 months paid, 3 months unpaid, then I took holiday pay due for another 2 months , so managed to take the whole of the first year off, then went back part time.

XH would not have wanted to remain home for several months with the baby (even if not self employed) because he preferred to work.

While this is a wonderful policy I don’t think it will be effective unless Avila makes a real effort to address discrimayion against fathers who take time off to care for children within the workplace.

DH took 2 weeks paternity leave and after that, there was an understanding with his employer that he move to a flat in London to be closer to his work; it was a flat subsidised by his work. Net result was he only saw DD at weekends for the first 4 years of her life. Looking back, I coped but with the benefit of hindsight I think it was crazy and I wish I'd insisted that he not do it.

I think that had he been able to take off 6 months at full pay at the same time as me it would have been brilliant and it would have settled us in as a family. I think he wouldn't have done it though. Now though, looking back with his own hindsight he could see it would have been great, but then he wouldn't have seen it as a bonus or a bonding time.

I think it would have meant he wouldn't have felt I knew our baby more than him and he would have felt more confident making decisions around her. I also think it would have made him realise that being a father was more important than an exciting job that actually only lasted a few years.

We've completed our family but I think it's an absolutely necessary step to achieve equality between men and women. So interesting so see that most men do take parental leave if it's paid. What a surprise!

The one thing I'd add is that it needs to be matched with the ability to flex part time work backwards and forwards. We both work PT but DH went back to FT work while I was on maternity leave the second and third time. His manager the first time was happy to let him do it, the second time DH his manager had changed and they were more awkward about it.

If we'd both had access to 6 months on full pay we'd have wanted the option for the parent who was working to go from PT to FT for a few months and back again. Whereas we both seem to work places that are fine about you working PT but if you go back FT that's it, you can't go PT again. Which is a bit shite.

But absolutely fantastic progressive policy that would make Aviva a very desirable place to work if I was in the industry.

Amazing idea! I had awful pnd after no3 and DH had to quit work for nearly a year as I was so unwell, we lived off of savings which have never recovered.

This is a great idea. I would have loved my husband to be around more to help out with our first when I was totally wiped out after difficult birth and exhaustion. Whether he would have liked that too is a different story. Maternity leave although lovely was hard with daily grind and loss of identity etc. I think my husband was relieved by the break he got at work.

I think this would also need to be accompanied by a shift in culture. In Norway etc where this is the norm men who don't take the leave are perceived as odd. That said my husband would love it. I don't think it's about us it's about dad having time to bond with the baby. It's a shame they don't get as long.

It's a great initiative. I see Dads at my place of work taking this up and have only heard positive reports. It's forward thinking and progressive. My DH is self-employed so took no time off, I found it very hard managing without any support.

PBobs agree about the shift in culture which is much needed but think it's this kind of innitative that will help to shift the culture. As more men do this and are seen to be more of an equal parent then things might shift in the right direction. Also agree that the benefits for the child and father are huge. All the research that NCT and others promote about early months / years attachment promoting social emotional development for life.

I think it's great that it's available but I would have been gutted to give up any of my maternity leave.

This is a brilliant idea. I’m pregnant with baby number 3 but as I am a SAHM, my husband isn’t entitled to anything other than the basic 2 weeks paternity leave. It would be amazing if he was able to take a decent amount of time off to help with the practicalities of juggling a newborn with two older children. The enhanced mat leave I got with my first two gave me three months at full pay before reverting to statutory pay. Many employers have similar enhanced arrangements so families could still potentially have fathers spending more time with their children without it impacting their finances. It would also help people not to be inadvertently pushed into traditional stereotypical roles if they don’t want to be, and can organise their family life how they see fit.

I welcome this equality but only for say your first two children. It would be nice to take your parental leave after the other has taken their entitlement, rather than at the same time.

Good on you Aviva. It would have been really helpful if it had been an option for us as extended family live far away so with the type of births we encountered it would have really helped especially with the second birth when you have a little one already. Having the other parent around would help with the pressures to keep that happy home feeling. Financially I am not sure it could be used for long but to have the option to work it out would be good.

I think it's a fabulous idea, and long overdue, Good on you Aviva, let's hope more companies take this idea on board- two weeks paternity leave is not long enough time to bond, nurture, help and share the responsibility of those first few months you are adjusting to your little one coming into your life and turning it on it's head. I would have loved the chance.

I think it's an absolute fantastic proposition every parent regardless of gender would love to spend more time with the child without having to worry about work and money. This is a great initiative as long as the parent gets paid leave

Fabulous if it is affordable. I think it would take away some of the prejudice against women in their 20s and 30s.

I think that there’s an increasing trend in DH’s industry to actively avoid taking annual leave, let alone additional paternity. Obviously, it isn’t encouraged by management openly but more and more staff seem to be doing it.

This would be so fantastic! I had an emergency c section this year, thankfully I recovered enough for my partner to go back to work but it was very scary being on my own with baby. Also as I was not fully recovered, I ended up having a bad fall as DH was on his way home from work. I felt I had to really rush to recover and feel better, especially doing night time cluster feeding/nappy changing.

I also see pangs of jealousy when my partner comes home and I tell him my baby smiles for the first time, has been chatty, we've been for walks etc. He only has one day off per week so would love to do these things

Brilliant initiative - the sort of thing that can really shift a culture. We took SPL with both our kids but it was only possible with a lot of saving and because I was the significantly higher earner.

It wipes out both of the largest (claimed) barriers - not being able to lose the man’s salary, and a woman not wanting to lose her full entitlement.

DH having time as the primary parent was invalauble to or household equality, because he had also had a significant stint as the primary caregiver. I now know quite a few people who’ve taken it, and they are all families where the dad does a much more equal share of not just childcare but of the household mental load. Hard to know what’s the cause and what’s the effect but experiencing the day-in day-out of primary parenting for more than a couple of days has to help towards that.

I think it's the best thing since sliced bread. Very good for equality in the workplace and at home.

What a brilliant, progressive policy Aviva. I think if my DH had been offered PL on full pay (he had two weeks each time, which seemed generous compared to some) then he would take it - and it would have made everything so much easier and more enjoyable to have both of us available. It felt like he had to go back to work so quickly, when I was still physically weak from birth and pregnancy as well as coping with newborn needs.
Where I work there is the right to SPL in which an increasing number of fathers are taking up the opportunity - I think once more men do so, then it will rapidly become more the norm.

Our employer has this too and my partner will be taking three months off at full pay after the baby's born. After only getting two weeks with our first I think he's really looking forward to it and two pairs of hands will be a massive help. I've told him a few times that being off with a new baby is definitely not like being on holiday and hopefully it's sunk in...I think it's a brilliant idea.