Under half (49%) of male respondents believe that there is a societal stigma attached to taking shared parental leave, and that it is not considered the normal course of action for men to take, according to research by TSB.
Its survey of 2,000 individuals also found that 37% of respondents had not heard of shared parental leave.
The research also found:
- 67% of male respondents would consider taking shared parental leave if they were to have another child.
- 38% of respondents who have taken-up shared parental leave did so to have time at home to bond with their new baby, compared to 33% who took up shared parental leave because it made more financial sense, as their partner earned more money.
- 55% of respondents feel it is very important for new fathers to have time off work with their newborn; 71% of 18 to 24-year-olds agreed with this compared to 43% of those over the age of 55.
Helen Rose, chief operating officer and executive sponsor for gender at TSB said: “At TSB, we are passionate about creating a workplace culture that supports all of our partners when they become parents so that they can balance their work and home lives and still achieve their career aspirations and potential.
“We believe that shared parental leave is an important step in achieving a more gender balanced workforce and so we actively promote it within our business. But as our research shows, more needs to be done to make shared parental leave a normal part of British working culture. Almost half of the men we asked said they believed there is still a societal stigma attached to men taking shared parental leave and that they felt it is just not the ‘done thing’.”