6 months parent leave for dads damaging to small Uk business?

[buttmunch]

Moves to give fathers the right to six months' paternity leave could " seriously damage" smaller firms, business leaders warned.
Paternity rights are set to be a centrepiece of a Bill on work and families which is expected to be published today by the Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson.
Reports have suggested that men are to be given the right to six months unpaid paternity leave during the first year of their baby's life.
Men are currently entitled to two weeks' paternity leave, with around 60% taking up the offer.
They are paid £106 a week by the Government, although half of firms continue to pay them a full salary.
The Forum of Private Business said thousands of smaller firms could be damaged by the move.
"In many cases it will be impossible for a firm such as an engineering company to find a temporary replacement skilled enough to provide paternity leave cover," said Chief Executive Nick Goulding.

"We see this as a cynical move by the Government to make them look family friendly, but it will be small businesses that will suffer."
The Equal Opportunities Commission said parents wanted choice about how they shared the care of their children.
Acting chairwoman Jenny Watson said: "Just 4% of parents take up the current unpaid parental leave available to both parents in their child's first years so new unpaid paternity leave would be just as ineffective.
"We hope the Government hasn't closed the door to payment of leave for fathers, and that it seizes this opportunity to halt the spread of the most unequal parenting arrangements in Europe."

[DisruptiveHair]

I'll tell you why a lot of parents don't take the leave offered to them; because you can't live on bloody 100 pounds a week!!!!!!!! I remember when they brought in the fortnight's paternity leave; a friend of mine at work took it after his partner had a baby and it really affected them economically. He lost hundreds of pounds. If it's only a fortnight it should be paid.

[buttmunch]

yeah, it's always nice when the gov't comes up with these schemes but don't actually think out the logistics.

[A*O]

Cry me a river - in Australia there is NO paid maternity leave even.

[DisruptiveHair]

Originally Posted by A*O

Cry me a river - in Australia there is NO paid maternity leave even.

That's how it is in the US, though a lot of companies provide paid maternity leave to full-time employees provided they've been employed there for longer than X number of months. My last company in the US provided 12 weeks fully paid.

[buttmunch]

It makes sense to provide maternity leave. It's better for the kid and makes for happier parents, thus happier employees. I've never understood how companies could expect and even demand that women come back to work very quickly after the birth of a child. Your body takes 6 weeks to completely heal and get over the hormonal storm. Plus, what good is the woman if she's up half the night breast-feeding, etc? I'm heavily into self-employment these days...big business sucks and does not give one flying fuck about its employees, unless it's a matter of a crony on the same level. Fuck 'em and beat them at their own game.