Parents In The Workplace

Over half of adults in Great Britain think Tony Blair should not take paternity leave when his child is born in May, according to a MORI poll for the Mail on Sunday. 57% want him to carry on his job as normal, whilst only a quarter say he should take unpaid parental leave from his job which he is entitled to do under new legislation brought in by his government.

People think Cherie Blair should make more of a sacrifice of her high-flying career than Tony Blair, in order to look after their new child. Less than half (42%) say she should go back to work as soon as she can. Of those who do want to see her go back, there is a preference for a part-time return (56%), rather than on a full-time basis (23%).

Two in three do not know they are now entitled to up to three months unpaid parental leave from their jobs during the first five years after their baby is born. The legislation seems to have been positively received, however, with 64% agreeing that all parents should have this right, over twice the proportion who disagree (30%).

The poll confirms a trend that shows people increasingly want parents to have the opportunity to work, if they wish. Today, less than half (42%) agree that women with young children should stay at home to look after them and not work, down from 61% in 1982.

We also find support for some of the new "family-friendly" policies that are being proposed. The vast majority, 84%, believe women should have the right to return to their jobs part-time after having children, and 72% think men should have the right to paid paternity leave after childbirth.

This leads us to consider how new legislation might work in practice. Over half of parents (52%) said they would not have exercised their rights to unpaid parental leave had they existed when their last child was born, with just over a third (36%) saying they would have. There is some concern about whether it would harm their career prospects if they did so: 43% think it would, compared to 47% who do not. And there is a degree of recognition that parental leave can result in costs for the employer. Almost half of those in work (45%) think that maternity and paid leave costs their employer "a fair amount" or "a great deal".

Technical details

• MORI interviewed 602 adults aged 18+ across Great Britain by telephone
• Fieldwork dates: 23-24 March 2000
• Results are weighted to the known profile of the population
• Base: All unless otherwise specified
• An asterisk (*) denotes a finding of less than 0.5% but greater than zero
• If figures do not add up to 100% this is due to multiple response