REBA’s Inside Track: what do men really want from workplace support?

You might expect the line after that to say ‘said no-one, ever’. And yes, when it comes to myriad aspects of working life, men’s needs and male-centred assumptions are behind skewed recruitment processes, job design, promotion opportunities and benefits offerings. Benefits teams, along with diversity and inclusion colleagues, are grappling with policies that are still directly or indirectly aimed at a stereotypical white, male, family-man breadwinner, dating from some time in the late 1950s.

But there are areas where men’s needs are much less well understood. Take shared parental leave, for example. Since its introduction, the UK government’s policy hasn’t enjoyed stellar success, with just 131,000 men taking it up in 2019/20, it’s tempting to meet this with the conclusion that men aren’t interested.

How many employers have asked why male-identifying parents (in single-sex as well as male/female relationships) do not take up shared parental leave? What is holding men back when it comes to sharing childcare, and how can employers (individually and collectively) help to overcome it?

I could guess at stigma, tradition, immediate financial burden or future concerns about career prospects. All of these can be addressed with an appropriate culture, good role models among senior leaders, and suitably designed reward policy.

For the most part, it is not a lack of interest in sharing childcare. Research carried out by the University of Birmingham and University of Kent last year found that 84% of men said that a positive aspect of Covid-19 lockdowns had been the ability to spend more time with their children. That may also be one of the core reasons behind recruitment agencies reporting a surge in demand for flexible working in sectors such as professional services.

Other sectors are also taking note: this month, The John Lewis Partnership became the first UK retailer to offer six months’ paid parental leave to all of its 80,000 workforce. It forms part of a wider package of measures at the business to promote equality. 

Parenting is not the only aspect of family health which affects men as well as women. Miscarriage, the emotional turmoil of fertility treatment and caring for a sick partner or relative are too often seen as affecting women only – but the associated grief and non-work related stress is often shared.

It’s Men’s Health week this week, and I’d like to add my call for better bereavement support for both men and women, acknowledgment of male as well as female carers in the workforce, and a wider understanding of the drivers that could encourage men to take up enhanced parental leave opportunities.  

Of course, this isn’t just about men. A major component of the gender pay gap is the financial and career impact of parenting and caring commitments. Women’s equity of opportunity depends in part on men’s greater visibility and involvement in family health. To achieve that means paying more attention to the barriers to taking shared parental leave and gaining a better understanding of men’s involvement and emotional responses to family health more broadly. 

The author is Maggie Williams, content director at REBA.