DadTalk

Dads want flexible working

A new campaign, Dads at Work, launched this week to make dads more aware of these workplace rights.

More than half of fathers want flexible working arrangements when they look for work, a new survey carried out by the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. But many fathers are unaware of their rights to paternity leave and flexible work arrangements. A new campaign, 'Dads at Work', launched this week to make dads more aware of these workplace rights.

Fathers are entitled to:

• Request flexible working - parents of a child 16 or under, are entitled to request flexible working such as flexi time, part time or working from home, and, by law, an employer must seriously consider the request;
• Paid paternity leave - new dads can take two weeks’ paid leave. They need to notify their employer 15 weeks before the due date; and
• Parental leave - dads have the right to take up to 13 weeks unpaid leave until their child is five years old.

However, some fathers remain unsure of the rights currently in place to help them. The poll found:

• 20% of dads with kids aged 16 or under - who, by law, are entitled to request flexible working from their employer - did not know if their company offered flexible working to fathers;
• 34% of parents with children aged 0 to 5 did not realise that paid paternity leave is law; and
• 22% wrongly assumed that fathers only needed to approach their employer to ask for this leave when the baby was born or before it was eight weeks old.