Aviva is offering 26 weeks of leave at full pay to all new parents - what do you reckon?

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’ve just spotted that the UK’s largest insurer Aviva will be offering its employees equal parental leave. New mums and dads - whether they gave birth, adopted or have had a baby via surrogacy - will be able to take up to one year of leave, including 26 weeks leave on full basic pay after the arrival of a child. It will include full time and part time employees across all levels of the company and a minimum length of service will not be required.

This new policy will be offered to Aviva employees who become a parent on or after 19th November 2017 in the UK, Ireland, France, Singapore and Canada. Aviva says it’s working to extend this to all other businesses within the next year.

They say that this is “part of their strategy to create a diverse and inclusive working culture in which barriers to career progression are removed.”

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Will this help to tackle the motherhood penalty? Will it encourage more dads to take substantial parental leave? Is there anything else you’d like to see in parental leave policies? Do you work for Aviva or another company offering unusually good parental leave, and if so how do you think this affects the choices you (and your spouse, if applicable) make around parental leave?

Thanks
MNHQ

It's not derailing. And if you think it is then you're not seeing the bigger picture

ElephantsYeah
ShatnersWig - what a ridiculous thing to post. Why should non-parents get a sabbatical? I'm genuinely baffled by your response. Maternity leave isn't a fucking holiday!

Why do you think? You obviously have no idea beyond believing that giving birth trumps all but it doesn't. What a massive sense of entitlement with no thought for people who would also benefit from this who don't have children.

Having full time care of one or more parents just for a starter. Caring for a parent isn't a fucking holiday either. Unlike them, it was your choice to breed.

Generally I think it is great they are trying to encourage a more equal take up of childcare reponsibilties across men and women.

Having said that it makes me wonder...

What is their gender pay gap reporting going to look like. I assume terrible from this!

What about breastfeeding? This seems to financially penalise families who choose to have the mother breastfeeding for the full year of maternity leave.

Knowing a reasonable amount of fairly senior people who work there, it is going to take a massive cultural shift for this to happen in some parts of the business given the tendancy towards redundancy threats all the time.

It won't make any difference to bf. Both parents are entitled to a full year, with 6 months fully paid. They will both be on leave if they both work for Aviva. It is not shared. The mother will also have SMO from 6-9 months.

It's a huge culture shift in the right direction. I commend Aviva in taking a lead in this.

Ah - I was thinking it still had to be shared like under general UK rules but that is alot of leave if you can both take a year!

My DP works for aviva and text me about this today when they told his department! We are both so impressed with this new policy however slightly miffed that our DD came along earlier this year and we missed it! Although before this new policy came into place aviva (where we are and obviously my dp managing directors) were so understanding about our dd’s birth, I suffered with pnd, my dp had two weeks holiday and two weeks paternity leave booked but they gave him a fifth week off with full pay when he went in for his first day back and explanined to his manager if I needed him he’d have to come back! Amazing company such a forward way of thinking! I do completely agree that the next big step should be to put in place policies that assist those that are carers ect, but this is a brilliant step in the right direction!

That sounds amazing! But, I wonder how men in Aviva are taking it up - is there a sense that you will be penalised for going on leave for 6 months/ a year?

It was already 18 weeks full pay for either sex. (Using the shared parental leave thing.) I know quite a few men that have had about 3 months off. The usual thing seems to be that mum is off for 9 months, dad has that last month off together and then two more months alone with the baby.

Slightly aggrieved I only got 18 weeks pay with my two! (Never thought I’d say that...)

Aviva are obsessed with “Wellbeing” at the moment. They keep suggesting lovely group walks by the river at lunchtimes. And I just want to sit at my desk and go on Mumsnet and Digital Spy.

it's incredibly generous if you want to use it, but these policies don't exist in a vaccum - they affect other staff, and a new baby is not the only need people have. I've also had parents of older children tell me they didn't feel the need for a block of time at the start, but more time across the years. Real progress doesn't necessarily focus all the time at the new baby stage, and also real progress should recognise caring responsibilities overall

Excellent post by Nyx1

It's a great headline grabbing idea, but a bit of a daft suggestion all round.
The argument that mothers need 6months - a year's maternity leave puts forward the idea that people's bodies take along time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth, and that the mother needs some months to form a secure attachment with the new baby. What is the argument for the father having 6 months leave ?

I work for them and am CURRENTLY on maternity leave. I don't qualify for the new changes, I have been told it's tough luck as the changes happened after I had our baby.

It's frustrating as I am having to go back earlier than I wanted due to financial reasons, had this come into affect sooner I would have had more time with my baby.

I know there has to be a cut off point but to those of us currently on maternity, it's a slap in the face.

I personally don't see how it's going to work, the cost will be huge for the company and we are always having to cut costs across our department.

They keep suggesting lovely group walks by the river at lunchtimes.

Laughing aloud at that one!

ShatnersWig - what a ridiculous thing to post. Why should non-parents get a sabbatical? I'm genuinely baffled by your response. Maternity leave isn't a fucking holiday!

You seriously can't think of any reasons? Then you really aren't looking at the wider world are you.

Caring for elderly parents or a terminally ill partner isn't a fucking holiday either!

My DH works for Aviva and we’re hoping to start TTC next year some time, he’s thrilled!

ShatnersWig - what a ridiculous thing to post. Why should non-parents get a sabbatical?

Why should 2 people who chose to have a child get a free sabbatical

The only option for people needing leave to care for a terminally ill partner or parents is to get signed off sick! It would be something to have provision even for extended unpaid leave in these circumstances - but there is nothing. It's entirely dependent on employers' goodwill.

BackforGood, it's not about the parents' needs, it's about the baby's needs. It's about the providing the optimum opportunity for the baby to develop a strong, secure attachment in the critical first 1000 days.

In the long run, this could change our society. Around 40% of adults in the UK live with the lifelong problems that insecure (not RAD) attachment brings. Surely, we applaud any effort to improve that.

A friend of mine who is a loan parent would have jumped at the opportunity to have a paid year off to care for her terminally ill father.
I would have taken the time off to have helped, cared and arrange things for my dad who has Alzheimer’s and step mum with dementia. Try constant calls from scared confused parents, calling social services, doctor, social worker, community mental health, memory services, pharmacy at least once a day, carers. All while working full time! Wasn’t much fun, and I honestly don’t think I’d have thought of it as a holiday, thankfully I had really good support at work and no one batted an eyelid when I was on my phone trying to sort out problems. Not everyone is that fortunate

@ShatnersWig I think a great policy for equality would be if all adults (male and female) get to take up to 2 years off between the ages of 20 and 50 to do whatever you want. Child. Holiday. Hobby. Whatever.

You can take it in 6 month blocks and you get paid at 50% for all of it.

I would also say you have to take at least 6 months before you are 40.

That would go a big way to reducing the stigma of taking time off to care for a child, and also, yay, I’d get a sabbatical.

Because, let’s face it - you have two children and take two full years off, combined with taking a bit of a back seat during PG whilst you’re feeling sick and tired - i’m going to be in a much better position compared to you since I’ll have been working full time with no gaps.

Making all adults have at least a 6 month break and giving the opportunity for 2 years would reduce that issue.

Brilliant!

To make it really effective in improving mothers' AND fathers' AND babies' lives, it should not just be an offer but compulsory for men AND women (if both parents work for the same company they can share).

If this kind of parental leave were normal and in every walk of life, it would improve family life beyond all recognition. AND increase productivity.

Anybody called parental leave with a new newborn a 'sabbatical' is having a laugh, right?

Having said that, I do think sabbatical are a good thing for companies also.

I think it’s great! It’s about time fathers were considered too. My DH would have loved to take up an offer like this

Could a father take some of this paid leave at any point in the year of parental leave?
I absolutely intend for my DH to take time off if we have a baby but the first 6 months would be useless as I'd be recovering and feeding.
Definitely support paid shared leave but wouldn't want to feel forced back to work 3 months after giving birth if his paid leave was better.
Very promising by Aviva though

I think people saying that people choose to ‘breed’ so shouldn’t leave anymore so than someone wanting a paid 6 month sabbatical is massively short sighted. I can only assume that someone with those view won’t expect said children to become tax payers and support them in their old age in return? Like it or not Children are a necessary part of society and there are huge benefits to giving them the right start, not just for them as individual but in terms of outcomes later in life. I do think those needing time for other caring responsibilities should have more rights, and hopefully this can pave the way towards that, as supporting those who are ill or aging is also something we need to work together as a society to solve.