Key Findings

• Of those mothers who were eligible for PPL, eight in ten of these women took a period of leave. Overall, this is two-thirds of all women in paid work in the immediate period before giving birth to a baby or adopting a child. Of the remaining third of all mothers in paid work and who did not take PPL, two-thirds take no leave at all. One-third took other types of leave.
• PPL is typically taken at the end of all other available paid leave. PPL allows eligible mothers to extend the total amount of leave taken.
• Uptake of leave is limited by a number of factors including: awareness of leave policies; a conscious choice to exit the workforce and ethical obligation to employer; perceived flexibility of paid work to fit around family; and type of role in workplace.
• Most of those who were ineligible for PPL said that the financial contribution had they been eligible would have been significant. Just under half said a payment would have meant they took more leave.
• The biggest barrier to taking the full 12 months of parental leave available is financial pressure. Mothers acknowledge that PPL lessens money worries, but does not provide financial security.
• Mothers would like to take longer leave than they actually do - on average, most mothers return to work when their baby is six months old, but would like to return when their baby is about 12 months old.
• Two-thirds of mothers who took PPL and then returned to work, went back to the same employer. Most returned with the same terms and conditions. Although a little lower, the majority of women who did not take PPL also returned with the same terms and conditions.
• Most mothers change their working arrangements when returning from leave. A change in working hours is particularly common, with two-thirds working part-time compared to one-third before the birth. Of those who decreased their hours, two-thirds planned for it to be a permanent change.
• Most mothers prefer the time provided by PPL for themselves, and not for their partners. This is because PPL occurs during the first few months of the baby's life when the baby's health and bonding are critical considerations.

The results from Stage 1 have already illustrated a complex pattern of employment and eligibility for PPL. Drawing on data from both stages, Figure 1 confirms this. First, it shows that of the mothers who had a baby aged 14-17 months old at the time the survey was carried out, a quarter were not in paid work in the period before having the child. As Stage 1 showed, most of these women were at home looking after children.

Figure 1: The landscape of mothers with babies aged 14-17 months

Description of Figure 1

The data indicates that at the time of the survey, eight in ten women in paid work six months before giving birth to or adopting a baby were eligible for PPL. The data then suggests that 83 percent of eligible mothers actually took up PPL, that is about two-thirds of all women in paid work took up PPL. There were some differences in eligibility for PPL by whether this was a first child with 86 percent of mothers with a first child having been eligible versus 75 percent for women with more than one child. This is likely to reflect some differences in working patterns of these two groups of women before they have their baby. In contrast, eligible mothers with other children demonstrate similar leave and return to work patterns as eligible first-time mothers.

Another difference was between mothers with a spouse/partner and those without. In the first group, 81 percent were eligible for PPL and there was an 83 percent uptake, while for single mothers the relative figures were much lower at 73 percent being eligible with a 74 percent uptake.

Of the remaining third of all women in paid work and who did not take PPL, two-thirds took no leave at all (equally divided between those who qualify and do not qualify for PPL). One-third took other types of leave.

Figure 1 shows there were three main subgroups within those who were eligible for PPL. These were the 83 percent who took leave, 7 percent who did not take PPL but took other types of leave, and 10 percent who took no leave. Within these three groups themselves, there was a further range in behaviour. For example, amongst those who were eligible but took no leave 45 percent resigned; 10 percent were contract workers; 10 percent casual workers; 10 percent self-employed; 8 percent had no leave entitlement; 5 percent were redundant; 3 percent returned immediately; and 11 percent other.

There were two main subgroups within the 20 percent of mothers who were ineligible for PPL. The largest subgroup, 71 percent took no leave. But again within this overall group, there was a diversity of behaviours. The largest single subgroup, one-third, had resigned. A very small group of mothers (4 percent) returned to work immediately after having a child.

Figure 1 also shows awareness of PPL by main group. Not surprisingly, all of those eligible for PPL and who took it were aware of the scheme. The two groups who were least aware of the PPL scheme were those who were eligible but did not take leave (85 percent) and those who were ineligible and also took no leave (87 percent).

Figure 1 also shows return to work (at the time of the survey) for mothers by main group. It should be noted that rates of return to work by those mothers who had not worked in the six months before having a baby were not recorded in the survey. It is likely some of these mothers would have re-entered the workforce. Overall, 76 percent of mothers who were working before having a child were back in paid work by the time the child was aged 14-17 months. The lowest returns to work were by those who were eligible for PPL but did not take leave (55 percent) and those ineligible who also did not take leave (57 percent). These lower returns to work are perhaps to be expected given that a significant proportion of both groups resigned from paid work when they had their baby. Also of note amongst these two groups was the mismatch between average age of baby for those who returned to work and their stated ideal leave period. Those who were eligible for PPL but did not take leave and those ineligible who also did not take leave had the longest ideal leave periods.

The highest return to work was not in fact for those eligible for PPL. It was amongst those mothers who were ineligible but who took another type of leave. In this group 97 percent had returned to work. Again, there was a mismatch between average age of baby and ideal period of leave (as there was in all groups). Finally, the figure shows that 80 percent of mothers who took PPL were back at work at the time of the survey.

Understanding the characteristics of all the various subgroups shown in Figure 1 is not possible because of sample size. Some overall characteristics of the main groups, however, can be seen in Table 4.

Table 4 indicates that on many variables there is not a significant difference between some of the groups. For example, there is virtually no difference between the proportion of eligible mothers who took PPL and those ineligible mothers who took other sort of leave when the proportion that are tertiary qualified is considered. But when household income is compared for these two groups, the former group has a much higher proportion with household incomes over $80,000 per annum.

The most qualified mothers are those eligible for PPL but who took other sorts of leave. These mothers have the highest household income and also are more likely to be the main income earner. A group that stands out is mothers who were ineligible for PPL and did not take leave, with only 2 percent being the main income earner. In addition, only 5 percent worked for a large employer, much lower than for the other groups.

Table 4 shows that ineligible mothers were more likely to work for a small and medium enterprise and were more likely to have more than one child.

* Amongst those who have returned to work only.

Reasons for not taking leave

As both Figure 1 and Table 4 show, non-leave takers span both those eligible for PPL and those not. When non-leave takers are considered as a group, the largest single group, 37 percent, resigned from their job. At the time of the survey, given that self-employed mothers were not eligible, self-employment was the second main reason for not taking leave at 19 percent. This supports the findings of Stage 1. The next four reasons were: casual work so there was no need to take leave (17 percent), a contract expired (13 percent), the mother returned to work immediately (4 percent), and the mother was made redundant (4 percent). Overall, first time mothers were more likely to resign, in part possibly because a higher proportion of first time mothers were in paid work in the first place and so even those more likely to be long term 'stay at home' mothers were still in employment.

Of those mothers who resigned, the largest single response was that the mother had made a conscious choice to spend more time with the family (35 percent). This response was much higher, however, for the ineligible mothers (41 percent versus 28 percent for eligible mothers). The next four reasons were health/medical reasons (18 percent), paid work not flexible enough to fit around family (13 percent), not eligible for leave (10 percent) and low work-place attachment (10 percent). For those mothers who stated paid work was not flexible enough to fit around family, the response was much higher amongst those who were eligible for PPL (22 percent versus just 5 percent of those who were ineligible). This may reflect that to be eligible a person is more likely to be in the core labour force, a part of the labour market that may not offer the high degree of flexibility some mothers want if returning to work.

What sort of leave, when leave is taken and for how long

Table 5 shows for those who took leave what sort of leave was taken and, on average, for how long. The most common type of leave taken is PPL, with the next single largest type of leave was extended unpaid parental leave.

* Mothers can take more than one leave type so the column adds to more than 100 percent.

** 13 percent of mothers indicated they took more than three months of PPL indicating that there was some confusion as to what was counted as PPL.

Some mothers are eligible for an employer provided period of PPL. Overall, Table 5 shows that 11 percent of mothers who took a period of leave used employer provided paid leave. But when eligible versus non-eligible mothers are considered, those who were eligible (whether or not they actually took PPL) were more likely to take employer paid leave (11 percent) than those not (4 percent). Those not eligible were slightly more likely to take sick leave (11 percent) than those who took PPL (7 percent).

Only 22 percent of mothers took PPL by itself. The remaining 78 percent took PPL in combination with one or more other type of leave. Where PPL was taken in combination with other types of leave, it was most commonly taken with extended unpaid parental leave. Over half, 57 percent, of mothers who took PPL also took some period of extended leave. Regardless of leave type taken, PPL was most commonly taken at the end of other paid leave (76 percent fitting this pattern). It appears that most mothers do this in order to maintain income for as long as possible.

Across all leave types, only 6 percent of mothers took leave only before birth, 21 percent only after, but most, 73 percent, took leave both before and after the birth.

Factors influencing decisions to take leave

Mothers were asked to comment on how important a number of factors were in influencing their decisions about leave. Table 6 shows responses for those mothers who took leave.

* Only those with older children responded to this question.

For mothers, bonding with the baby, as well as the health of the baby, were almost universal responses. As a comparison, most fathers ranked health of the spouse/partner as important or very important (93 percent) while health of the baby ranked lower at 90 percent (Table 21).

While many mothers did rate establishing breastfeeding as important or very important in decisions regarding leave (84 percent), given its significant health role for both mothers and babies, and that six months exclusive breastfeeding is actively promoted by the Ministry of Health, it is notable that 14 percent of the mothers rated this factor as either not at all important or not very important.

The diversity of attitudes of mothers towards employment and their employer shows up in Table 6. For example, while many mothers see their own career and their employer's expectations as important, a significant proportion of mothers view these factors as unimportant. When non-leave takers were also considered, in two of the employment related responses there were some significant differences between those taking PPL and those who were ineligible and did not take leave (Table 7). This table shows that the need to maintain current income levels and employer expectations were much more important for those mothers who did not take leave and were ineligible for it.

* The small numbers mean caution is needed with these results.

Mothers attitudes towards parental leave

Mothers were asked to rate a number of statements with regard to their overall attitudes towards parental leave. Table 8 shows the responses of those mothers who took PPL.

Almost all mothers who took PPL agreed that this leave recognises the importance for mothers to take leave from work to care for their baby. Some of the responses, however, are difficult to interpret. For example, the breastfeeding response may reflect that a significant number of mothers do not think breastfeeding is important or that it is important but they were unable to.

While the majority of mothers who took leave agreed that leave was more valuable for mothers than fathers (66 percent), over a quarter (27 percent) disagreed with this view.

The most negative response was around the length of leave. Only a quarter agreed that the period of PPL was long enough, with 71 percent disagreeing with the statement.

Mothers were also asked as to how supportive their employer was about leave decisions. Most (90 percent) of all mothers taking leave said their employers were either supportive or very supportive. small and medium enterprises were seen as being more supportive.

Mothers return to work and actual versus ideal length of leave

Mothers were asked about return to work and, connected with this, whether their actual period of leave was an ideal length. Table 9 shows responses for three groups who had returned to work: those who took PPL; those who were eligible for PPL but did not take this type of leave; and those who were not eligible and did not take leave. The data show an almost identical set of responses with the single largest group being those who returned when planned (just under half). The next largest group was those who returned earlier than planned.

Those who had not returned to work when planned were asked for the main reason for this decision (to either go back earlier or later than planned). Table 10 shows the main reasons. Clearly reflecting that income maintenance is important, the largest single response for all groups was that they needed the money. This was followed by a variety of other reasons some employment related and some family related.

* The small number means caution is needed with these results.

When employers were asked about changes to the date of return, the majority (77 percent) said the request was made by the mother, that is, the employer requested 23 percent of the changes. This is higher than the 12 percent of mothers who said that employers asked them to come back earlier.

Table 11 shows responses by mothers in these same three groups as to when they did return to work (for those mothers who had returned) versus the ideal length of leave (for all mothers regardless of whether they had returned). While not shown in Table 11, overall, 8 percent of mothers who had returned to work took less than one months leave, but this figure was only 1 percent for those who took PPL versus 33 percent for those who were not eligible and did not take leave.

* Only for ideal. Actual is only for the mothers who had returned to work at time of survey.

Amongst all three groups there was a significant mismatch between actual leave taken and ideal leave. For mothers in each group, the ideal clusters around 12 months or more leave (between 70 and 75 percent). The second largest cluster is around four to six months (7-14 percent). In addition, when the mothers who had taken leave but had not yet returned were considered, the 'actual' figures (increasing the 12+ months group), there is still a mismatch (36 percent took 12 months or more versus 72 percent who see this time as ideal). As Table 11 indicates, mothers not taking PPL were significantly more likely to return to work with child up to three months.

It is worth noting that 38 percent of mothers who took PPL returned to work when their child was under six months old.

These three main groups of mothers were also asked the main reason for not taking 12 months leave. Table 12 shows the responses. Again, for all groups the single main response was financial pressure. This response was particularly strong amongst those who took PPL (61 percent).

Following on from this line of questioning, mothers who took PPL were asked how much the ending of the payments influenced their timing of return to work. Table 13 shows that while over half agreed with the statement that the cessation of payments did influence their return, 29 percent said it did not.

Considering a sub-sample of mothers who took parental leave, but had not gone back to work, 34 percent said they wanted to stay home longer with the baby, a further 24 percent could not find childcare or it was not available, and 11 percent said that they had no flexibility around job or hours or that terms of employment had changed.

Those mothers who were not eligible for PPL were asked if it would have changed their leave taking if they had been eligible (Table 14). The largest single group (54 percent) would have taken the same amount of leave before the birth. However, 27 percent would have taken more leave. In terms of leave after birth, slightly less than half (45 percent) would have taken the same amount of leave. A total of 38 percent would have taken more leave after the birth if they had been eligible.

Ineligible mothers were asked had they been eligible for PPL, whether it would have made a significant difference in terms of covering costs. The majority, 89 percent, responded that it would have. In total, 35 percent agreed with both the statements about taking longer leave and difference in covering costs.

Reasons for return to work

Table 15 shows responses to a number of statements about reasons for return to work. This is for those who took PPL and includes those who returned when planned and those who did not. The reason most commonly agreed with was because the mother's employer was willing to be flexible to accommodate the way they wanted to work (80 percent). Given the data shown in some previous tables, not surprisingly close behind was financial necessity at 78 percent. Childcare availability was important for 62 percent. Work related reasons, such as because it was difficult to find anyone to cover their role while they were away, were important for around a quarter of mothers who took PPL.

Terms and conditions when returning to work

Again the tables 16 and 17 show responses for three groups who had returned to work: those who took PPL; those who were eligible for PPL but didn't take this type of leave; and those who were not eligible and did not take leave.

Table 16 asked whether mothers returned under the same terms and conditions of employment, a legal requirement under legislation for those eligible to take PPL. Most of those who took PPL (89 percent) did have the same terms and conditions. The figures were lower for the other two groups but still relatively high overall. Some mothers, however, will have chosen to make their own changes to terms and conditions rather than these being imposed on them by employers.

Returning mothers were asked about changes they had made in the way they worked once they had returned (Table 17). In doing so they could pick more than one option. Only 7 percent of those who took PPL said they made no changes. The two largest single responses were working fewer hours and working more flexible hours. The former was particularly common amongst those taking PPL with 69 percent reporting this work pattern. A small group, however, increased their hours.

A significant number of mothers worked from home for some or all of the time, particularly those who were ineligible and did not take leave (45 percent). This latter group include the self-employed.

There were a wide variety of other responses, however, showing a diversity of workplace arrangements. Some of these arrangements were potentially chosen by the employee (such as becoming self-employed) and some will have been employer prompted (such as becoming redundant). Table 17 also gives an indication that not all mothers are returning to the same employer. In fact of those who took PPL, 18 percent said they changed employer, 4 percent noted they were self-employed, 8 percent were working on contract, 3 percent had left the workforce and 2 percent had been made redundant. This suggests that around a third of mothers who took PPL did not return to the same employer.

When employers were asked about what assistance they had made for returning mothers over 80 percent said they offered flexible working hours or ability to change hours of work. In addition, around 40 percent said they offered the ability to work at home (Table 37). For a variety of reasons, including that some mothers do not want to change particular aspects of their working patterns, the take-up by mothers appears to be lower than the availability of such assistance.

Of those mother's who had returned to work and had decreased their hours, about a third planned to increase them again sometime in the future.

When just first-time mothers who had a child and who had returned to work were considered, a significant number changed their working hours. For example, 72 percent worked 40 hours or more before the birth, but this dropped to 19 percent when they returned. Before birth, only 1 percent worked less than 10 hours per week, but after birth this rose to 19 percent.

Of the mothers who had returned to paid work, 80 percent said their employers had been supportive or very supportive of changes to work patterns. More of those working in the public sector stated their employer was supportive than those with private sector employers (86 percent versus 76 percent).

Mothers were also asked if they were entitled to a selection of benefits from their employer as a result of having a baby. Of all those who had returned to work, 61 percent said they had no employer benefits. If they did have benefits, the most important were: space for breastfeeding (17 percent); access to on-site childcare/crèche (8 percent) and access to a car park (10 percent). Only 1 percent said they were able to work more flexible hours. At first this seems surprising, given that 57 percent of mothers who returned to employment (Table 17) said they worked flexible hours. The mismatch may be due to the wording of the question as it asks if these benefits were made available as the result of having a baby. Some of the benefits may be available to all employees.

Finally, mothers were asked how easy it was to combine paid work and family life. Overall, just over half (51 percent) either found it not very easy or not at all easy to combine the two spheres. Again reflecting diversity of experience, however, 29 percent found it either easy or very easy. There was little difference by categories of leave takers.

Transferring leave to spouses/partners

Eligible mothers can potentially transfer some or all of their leave to their spouse/partner. The study showed a very small number of mothers did not use the full period of PPL. These mothers were asked if they forfeited the remainder of the 13 weeks they were entitled to, or did they transfer it to their spouse/partner, the majority, 75 percent, said they forfeited it.

All mothers taking PPL were told as part of the interview that they could transfer part or all of their PPL to their spouse/partner, provided the spouse/partner met the eligibility criteria for PPL. They were then asked if this were something they would consider doing. Of this group 72 percent said they would not consider such a transfer. The main reasons given for this were: that it is more important for the mother to be bonding (67 percent); more important for the mother to be breastfeeding (60 percent); more important for the mother to have a period of recovery from birth (51 percent); and just under half (44 percent) stated that the money available to their spouse/partner would not be enough.

Key Findings

• Most fathers take some sort of leave around the birth or adoption of a child. Very few eligible fathers, however, are taking unpaid partners paternity leave and are more likely to save up and use all other types of paid leave around the birth of a baby.
• The most common arrangement is for men to take two weeks annual leave around the birth of the baby. Father's ideal leave is four weeks concurrent leave with mother.
• One in two fathers had more involvement in domestic responsibilities around the birth. Where the mother had returned to paid work, all fathers maintained or increased their involvement.
• Fathers find employers more supportive about changing work patterns around the time of the birth, but not necessarily for longer term changes.

Those who were willing to transfer were more likely to be the main income earner, to work full-time, and have been given some kind of benefit from their employer such as space for breastfeeding or childcare facilities.

Overall, of the 150 fathers who responded to the survey, 85 percent stated they were aware of PPL.^[14] Older fathers tended to be more aware of PPL. Of all the fathers, 53 percent had a spouse/partner who took PPL. Most fathers (82 percent) took some sort of leave around the birth or adoption of a child. Of these leave takers, 66 percent took one type of leave with 15 percent taking two.

Type of leave taken and length

Fathers typically take paid leave, such as annual leave (58 percent) or other type of employer paid leave (21 percent), rather than unpaid leave (Table 18). This allows them to maintain income while both parents are off work. As indicated in the qualitative research, taking paid leave supports their role as primary income earner. In this survey only 1 percent of fathers reported taking PPL.^[15][16]

Of those who took annual leave, most (88 percent) took up to two weeks. The majority (60 percent) of fathers stated that they saved up their annual leave with the intention of taking at the time of birth or adoption. One result of this is that fathers may then have little leave left for the remainder of the year and this can limit their ability to support mothers in this period as well as reduce their time with their children (Ward, 2007).

When total leave was considered, 46 percent of fathers took up to a week and 38 percent up to two weeks. A total of 6 percent took six weeks or more. Overall, this leave taking is considerably shorter than for mothers and reflects that most, but not all, fathers assume the role of primary income earner on the birth or adoption of their child. This pattern has also been shown in a similar survey of fathers carried out in the United Kingdom (Smeaton, 2006).

Of those fathers who took some type of leave, most said they were supported in this decision by their employer, with 29 percent saying their employer was supportive while the majority (58 percent) said their employer was very supportive. Only 3 percent said their employers were not supportive.

Actual versus ideal length of leave

Fathers were asked about their actual versus ideal length of leave. Table 19 shows that, like for mothers, for a significant number of fathers actual leave taken is lower than ideal leave, although on a different scale (weeks rather than months). While the proportion stating that actual and ideal leave were around two weeks were found to be similar, a significant proportion, 29 percent, wanted three to four weeks. A total of 6 percent wanted more than three months. Again this indicates some diversity of attitudes amongst fathers.

* Of those who took leave.

Only 27 out of the 150 fathers who were interviewed took no formal leave.^[17] Of these a total of five did not take leave because the birth was outside of normal working hours, for example, the birth was in the school holidays for teachers and four were self-employed. Of the remainder, the two main reasons were 'couldn't afford to' (seven fathers) and 'workload wouldn't allow it' (six fathers). In addition, fathers taking no leave were more likely to be aged over 45, have family incomes under $80,000 and be having their first baby (so are not needed to look after older children).

When asked if they took the amount of leave planned, 76 percent said they took the amount planned (taking an average of 2.1 weeks), 6 percent took more leave (1.3 weeks), but 16 percent took less leave (2.1 weeks). Those who did not take the amount of leave they planned (either more or less leave) were asked the main reason for not returning to work when they originally planned (Table 20). The need for money or limited paid leave being available made up just under a third of responses. Some unexpected events, including complications around the birth, were also important. The effect of unexpected events also showed up in the qualitative interviews.

Total may exceed 100 because of multiple responses.

* Low base number of respondents - results are indicative only.

Fathers were asked if they would prefer to take leave at the same time as their spouse/ partner. The majority (88 percent) said they would like it at the same time and, on average, this group wanted four weeks leave. Just 7 percent wanted leave after their spouse/partner. This group were more likely to have lower household incomes than other fathers.

Attitudes towards parental leave

Fathers were asked that when they considered what type of leave to take and how long they would take, to rank the importance of a number of factors (Table 21). The health of their spouses/partners was the most common choice (93 percent). The health of the baby, however, was not far behind (90 percent). Taking an active role in helping around the house was also important to most fathers (92 percent), as was bonding with their baby (91 percent), and caring for the baby (89 percent). While both the qualitative research and some earlier questions suggest that providing income is very important for many fathers, 17 percent said that this was not important or not very important.

* Only for those with older children.

In some of responses shown in Table 21 there were divergent opinions. In terms of the father's career, their workload and their employer's expectation, around 40 percent of fathers agreed that these factors were important or very important. About an equal proportion of fathers, however, felt these factors were not important.

Fathers were then asked to consider some general statements that were presented to them about parental leave (Table 22).

Almost all fathers (98 percent) agreed with the statement that parental leave recognises the importance of parents to take leave to care for their baby. Only a few percentage points fewer (94 percent) agreed that parental leave allows their spouse/partner to focus on bonding with the baby. This and the previous table show that fathers are generally concerned about parental leave in relation of how it assists mothers and babies. Like mothers, the majority of fathers (65 percent) disagreed with the statement that parental leave is long enough (71 percent of mothers disagreed with this statement).

Transferring leave from mothers

Only 42 percent of fathers were aware that it is possible for mothers to transfer some or all of their PPL entitlement to their spouse/partner. The fathers were asked how interested they would be in having leave transferred to them (Table 23). A total of 51 percent said they would be interested.^[18] This contrasts with only 28 percent of those mothers who took PPL saying they would consider a transfer. The low rate of transfer could be related to the current length of PPL, which is short in comparison with countries such as Sweden and Norway where sharing of leave is actively promoted. The data also shows that PPL, at its current length, is seen by both mothers and fathers as important for the mothers for biological and recovery reasons.

Fathers who were more interested in having a period of leave transferred to them were more likely to have taken a longer leave around the birth, more likely to be primary caregiver, have more than one child, and to work in technical or professional positions. Those not interested were more likely to have taken a shorter leave and work in managerial roles.

Fathers were asked to comment on a set of reasons as to what would prevent them taking up PPL (Table 24). The two strongest reasons were related to biological factors, breastfeeding (79 percent stated that this would influence them to a large extent) and mother's recovery from birth (75 percent). The need to maintain their income was also important for many, but not all, fathers. Over half (56 percent), however, stated that they had no concerns about job security should they take PPL.^[19]

Fathers were asked if there was a period of PPL that existed just for them how likely it would be that they would take it up (Table 25). Half said it would be likely or very likely they would. Again illustrating a diversity of opinions, however, just over one-fifth say that it was not likely they would take up the leave.

Changes in work patterns and being the primary income earner or caregiver

Fathers were asked about changes in both paid and unpaid work following the birth or adoption of their child. When asked if their spouse/partner had returned to paid work at the time of the survey, 58 percent of fathers said they had. Of those whose spouse/partner had returned to paid work, 40 percent of fathers said they found it more difficult to balance their paid work with family life. This is somewhat lower than the 51 percent of mothers who either found it not easy to combine work and family life. The group of fathers finding it more difficult to combine the two spheres was employed as professionals working in the private sector, and with household incomes of over $100,000.

Fathers were also asked if they placed equal importance on their spouse's/partner's paid work and 63 percent said they did.

All fathers were also asked whether after their baby was born or adopted, they had more, less or the same amount of involvement in housework and domestic responsibilities. A total of 54 percent of fathers stated they had more involvement, while only 5 percent said they had less involvement. Those fathers whose spouse/partners had returned to work were asked if this involvement changed when their spouse/partner returned to paid work and 54 percent said their involvement stayed the same, for 40 percent it increased and for just 6 percent it decreased.

Fathers were questioned if they had they made any changes to the way they undertook their paid work around the birth or adoption of their child (Table 26). Only 28 percent said they made no changes. The most common response was to be working flexible hours (45 percent), with 28 percent saying they were working fewer hours. Again indicating a diversity of responses, however, 8 percent said they were working longer hours. Two-thirds of those who took no leave made changes to their work around the time of the birth.

Fathers were then asked in the longer term, (i.e. defined in the survey as from when their baby was about six months old) whether they had made any changes to the way they undertook their paid work (Table 26). Again, only 29 percent said they had made no changes. The most common change was working more flexible hours (38 percent). However, 24 percent said they had increased responsibilities. This fits with the findings from Stage 2, where many fathers felt they had more pressure on them post the birth of the child as they had assumed the role of primary or, for many at least in the short-term, sole income earners.

The fathers who had made longer-term changes were then asked how supportive employers had been of these changes. Only 4 percent said their employers were not supportive, with 25 percent stating they were supportive and 38 percent very supportive, a total of 63 percent stating they were supported in their changes.^[20] This level of support, however, is lower than the proportion getting support from employers for decisions about leave around the time of birth (87 percent).

Given that information gathered in the qualitative phase pointed to many fathers becoming the main income earner on the adoption or birth of a child, fathers were asked about the financial and career pressures on them (Table 27). Most (86 percent) agreed that they had become more concerned about financial security. A significant proportion also felt pressure to be the main income earner and to maintain their career. But continuing the theme of diversity, nearly a fifth disagreed with the idea that they felt more pressure to maintain their career.^[21]

Key Findings

• Overall, the majority of employers, and especially small employers, have very little experience of women taking PPL.
• Large employers are more likely to have formalised policies and systems in place to manage parental leave, and are more likely to have greater knowledge of their legal obligations. Small employers are more likely to consider parental leave on a case-by-case basis.
• Employing someone to cover the position of an employee on parental leave is one of the most difficult aspects to manage for employers. Small and medium enterprises are more likely to find this difficult and prefer to re-allocate work across existing staff rather than try to hire someone to temporarily fill the role.
• Two-thirds of employers agree that PPL allows them to plan and manage workloads with greater confidence.
• Typically employers accommodate changes in working patterns on the mothers return to work and on an ongoing basis, particularly changing the number of hours worked and working flexible hours.
• Small and medium enterprises appear to be more flexible than larger employers. They are more likely to strongly agree that they work around the needs of families where possible and re-evaluate the needs of mothers on a regular basis.
• Employers are more supportive of changes to working patterns for fathers around the time of the birth, rather than on a long term basis.

Of the employers who responded to the survey, 63 percent had less than five employees, 27 percent 5-19, 2 percent 20-49 and 8 percent had fifty or more. Overall, 64 percent of employees were female. Across the sample, 25 percent of small employers had been in operation less than 3 years compared with just 4 percent of large employers. Over a third of large employers (36 percent) had operated 50 or more years as against 10 percent of smaller employers and 12 percent of medium sized employers. Employers spanned a range of industries, but the largest proportion was in retail trade (20 percent), health and community services (13 percent) and education (12 percent). Some of the differences in size were related to sector. For example, those in retail trade tended to be small employers, while those in the education sector tended to be large employers.

Given that the size of employer seemed to be associated with some differences in attitude to or experience with parental leave, much of the following analysis is based around three groups: small employers (less than five employees), medium sized (5-19), and large employers (20 or more).^[22]

Experience in dealing with leave and sources of information

Not surprisingly, due to both their size and the length of time they have been established, small employers had less experience of dealing with parental leave. For example, 92 percent of small employers had only one female employee who had taken leave of any type in relation to having/adopting a baby in the last 12 months, against just 14 percent of large employers having only one female employee take leave. Amongst large employers, 24 percent had ten or more female employees take leave in the previous year. Similarly, small employers had far less experience than large employers in dealing with both PPL and extended unpaid leave.

Potentially reflecting this lesser experience with leave, but also since SMEs generally do not have specialist HR sections, small employers were much less likely to feel familiar with their legal obligations concerning paid and unpaid parental leave (Table 28).

Total may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.

Employers were asked about sources of information they used when considering PPL (Table 29). While some of the sources were important across all employer sizes, large employers appeared to seek advice from a wider range of sources including payroll companies, a lawyer, and their own HR department. Small employers were more likely to have used an accountant. But overall the two single most important sources were the two government agencies responsible for PPL, the Department of Labour and Inland Revenue.

Total may exceed 100 percent because of multiple responses.

Return to work by mothers

Employers were asked about the proportion of mothers in their organisation who only took the 14 weeks paid component of their parental leave entitlement, and then returned to work on the date agreed before they went on parental leave (Table 30). Less than half in small organisations (43 percent) said all employees did return when initially agreed, but the rate was even lower in large organisations (21 percent). In 41 percent of large organisations, none of the employees came back on the agreed date. If they did not return on the agreed date the most common reason was that they did not return at all (58 percent). The next most common response was returning later than planned (25 percent).

Total may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.

*Sub-sample based on those organisations which had employees taking PPL only.

For some non-returners, this perhaps reflects an eligibility criterion for PPL. Parents who receive payments need to take leave from their job even if they know in advance that they do not actually plan to return.

Employers were also asked whether the mothers who were eligible to take extended unpaid parental leave of up to 52 weeks after the birth returned on the agreed date. Overall, the largest single response was that none did (28 percent), followed by all returned (22 percent). But 20 percent of employers did not know. Clearly there is much variation in employee experience in relation to actual return dates relative to predicted dates. Employers were then asked if those employees who had not come back at the agreed date returned earlier, later or not at all from leave. The largest group, about half, did not return at all. The non-returnee rate was higher for small employers (60 percent).

Comparing return data for employers and mothers is not easy because of the differing questions asked of each group. Only an estimate can be made as to what proportion of mothers returned to their original employer as this question was not directly asked. While overall 80 percent of mothers who took PPL returned to paid work within the 14-17 month period, as Table 17 had shown, 18 percent of those who had taken PPL changed employer, 8 percent were working on contract, 4 percent became self-employed, 3 percent had left the workforce and 2 percent had been made redundant. This suggests that, based on mothers' responses, only about half of mothers who were employed before having a baby took leave and then returned to the same employer.

The employers were also asked if the changes to mothers return to work date was usually at the mother's request, or by the organisation. Overall, the majority (77 percent) were through the request of the mother, but this was higher amongst large employers (85 percent).

Coping with leave

Employers were asked about policies they had in place to cope with various aspects of leave (Table 31). For most areas related to parental leave, the majority of employers had some level of policy or systems in place to cope. Between a quarter and a fifth, however, had little in the way of policies in most of the areas related to leave. Not surprisingly, in many areas large employers were more likely to have policies in place. The one area that stands out is whether employers have policies or systems in place for fathers as well as mothers. The majority, 60 percent, did not have policies in place for fathers.

** For all these responses, large employers were much more likely to have formalized systems in place.

When asked about overall views on parental leave, almost all employers agree that PPL provides some essential income to mothers and the vast majority agree it is very important in giving mothers time to focus on the health of themselves and the baby (Table 32). These are similar to the responses of both mothers and fathers. The importance of income and time off for the health of mothers and babies seems to be a core New Zealand value around PPL.

** Lower for large employers.

Table 32 also shows that almost all employers see themselves as being 'family friendly' (98 percent) and, connected with this, almost all suggest that when they value their employees they make sure they work around the needs of their families wherever possible (97 percent). Most also encourage their managers to be flexible in balancing the needs of the business with the needs of the mother.

Table 33 shows statements that a high proportion of employers agree with. A significant proportion of employers agree with the statement that they re-evaluate the needs of mothers in relation to paid work on a regular basis (80 percent), although this was lower for large employers. A similar proportion also agreed that PPL helps mothers return to the same terms and conditions of employment without disadvantage after having a baby (80 percent), a legal requirement of PPL.

** Lower for large employers.

There was more diversity in opinion about some other statements. While three-quarters of employers found it difficult to employ a replacement when an employee was on PPL, nearly one-fifth of employers did not. There were fewer problems for larger employers. Two-thirds also found it difficult to manage the impact of any leave, but a third did not. Again, the problems were lower for large employers.

While many (71 percent) of employers agree that PPL allows them to better retain experienced staff, a quarter disagreed with this statement.

There was much more divergence of opinion about some other statements (Table 34). Again, in some of the responses there was a difference by employer size. With the following statements, many of the responses were neutral. About half of the employers appeared to face difficulties when employees returned either earlier or later than planned. While not a majority, a still significant 31 percent of employers believed that some employees, valuable to their organisation and who would financially benefit from PPL, are unfairly excluded due to current eligibility criteria. This reinforces the view expressed by ineligible mothers in the qualitative research who felt that the PPL criteria were unfair.

** Lower for large employers.

Approaches to managing parental leave

There is a diversity of approaches amongst employers with regards to managing parental leave (Table 35). The single most common response is to have one policy, but with room for flexibility for individual circumstances.

Total may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.

Depending on the size of employer, however, between 25 percent (large employers) and 47 percent (small employers) negotiate each case individually.

Employers were asked about the influence of a range of factors on how they manage and negotiate individual cases of parental leave (Table 36). Only three factors influenced three-quarters of employers to a moderate or large extent. These included the specialist skills of the employee. But all of the areas have a relatively strong influence on employers. The two factors that influence employers the least were the length of leave the employer planned to take and their length of service. For most of the factors, there was a lower positive response to these factors for large employers.

Assistance for returning mothers

Employers were asked if they made any assistance available to mothers returning to work after parental leave (Table 37). The most common types of assistance were flexible working hours (83 percent of employers overall) and ability to increase or decrease total hours worked (85 percent). These types of assistance are not mutually exclusive.

When contrasted with responses from mothers returning from PPL, there initially appears to some mismatch. For example, only 57 percent of these mothers said they worked flexible hours on return from parental leave. However, a greater number may have been offered such conditions but not taken them up.

Space for breastfeeding was commonly offered amongst small employers (69 percent), but much less so amongst large employers (41 percent). Across the whole sample, 63 percent of employers said they offered breastfeeding facilities. This contrasts strongly with the 19 percent of mothers who returned from PPL and said their employer offers breastfeeding facilities.

Male employees and parental leave

Employers were asked about their experience in managing male employees taking any type of leave around the birth or adoption of their baby (Table 38). While overall only 13 percent said yes, this was heavily influenced by small employer responses. Over half of large employers (55 percent) had some experience in managing male employees taking leave.

That many employers did not note that they had experience is likely to reflect that most fathers taking leave simply take a period of annual leave and so employers may not be aware that they have taken leave for this purpose.

Of the small number of employers who said they had experienced fathers taking some sort of parental leave, the largest single group (70 percent) noted that it was annual leave that fathers took (Table 39).

Total may exceed 100 percent because of multiple responses.

* Sub-sample based on those respondents who have had experience with male employees taking parental leave.

Around a quarter had experienced fathers taking partners leave, unpaid leave negotiated with the employer or other employer funded leave. A total of 17 percent of employers who had experienced leave taking said that fathers had taken PPL. This is much higher than the overall 1 percent of fathers who said they had taken PPL.

Employers were asked about the work related flexibility fathers had around the time the spouse/partner has their baby (Table 40). Only a small proportion stated they had no flexibility but this response was higher for small employers (14 percent) than large employers (4 percent).

Total may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.

Employers were also asked about the degree of flexibility available to men with regard to their working pattern on an ongoing basis (Table 41). Overall, only 23 percent said that they gave fathers a large amount of flexibility, but a further 29 percent had a moderate amount. Overall, in the longer term fathers have slightly less flexibility around working arrangements than around the time of the birth. This reflects the responses of fathers themselves who tend to work less flexibly in the longer term than around the time of the birth. It also reflects the finding that fathers feel less supported of long-term changes to the working patterns than they do with regards to short-term changes (Table 26 and subsequent discussion).

Total may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.

Employers were asked if various types of assistance were made available to fathers after the birth or adoption of a baby (Table 42). Although there were some differences in responses by employer size, the two largest single responses were flexible working hours and ability to increase or decrease total hours worked. Amongst small employers, a third (35 percent) offered no assistance, higher than the 20 percent for medium sized and large employers. Although this set of responses cannot be directly compared with the responses of fathers, some responses closely match (21 percent of fathers say they can work from home some/all of the time in the long term compared with just over a quarter of employers saying they offer this option). In general, however, a higher proportion of employers appear to offer flexible working patterns than the take-up by fathers would suggest. For example, between 57 percent and 63 percent of employers say they offer flexible working hours, while 45 percent of fathers say they work more flexible hours around the time of birth and 38 percent long-term.

Total may exceed 100 percent because of multiple responses.