“Culture matters enormously”: Why Getting Parental Leave Right Takes More Than a Good Policy

When senior economist James Pomeroy became a father, sharing the news at work was easy. A more complicated conversation came later on: asking to take Shared Parental Leave. Despite having a supportive employer, he remembers feeling the weight of an unspoken question: Would making family time a priority be seen as stepping back professionally?

The findings in our 2026 Parental Leave Benchmark Report suggest that while parental leave policies continue to improve, the lived experience of using them can throw things out of focus. Policies have evolved significantly, but expectations around who takes leave, how they take it, and the support they need have not.

The gap is perhaps most visible when parents return to work. While 66% felt supported during leave, only half found returning easy, and just 32% had a clear return-to-work plan. For many parents, the challenge is not taking leave. It is navigating what comes next.

The false choice between career and family

For James, becoming a parent fundamentally reshaped his perspective on work. Not because his career became less important, but because it was no longer the only thing that mattered.

After an extended period of Shared Parental Leave, James now works a four-day week, giving him dedicated time with his son.

The arrangement challenges a persistent workplace assumption: that career ambition and active parenthood sit on opposite sides of a scale. James describes a ‘permanent tension’ between work and family responsibilities, but his conclusion is not one of compromise.

“You can be both,” says James: “A really good parent and a really good employee.”

Yet many parents still feel pressure to choose. Our benchmark found that nearly seven in ten parents identified balancing work and family as their biggest challenge after leave, while half felt out of touch on returning.

These are not simply policy problems, but experience problems. Parents are not asking employers to lower expectations; they are simply asking for environments that make both commitments possible.

When policy exists, but confidence doesn’t

James describes his Shared Parental Leave as transformative, but says that understanding eligibility, coordinating leave with his partner, and navigating the process was complex. More significantly, he believes many fathers never explore the option because of the stigma surrounding it.

On Mondays, James spends the day looking after his toddler. Yet at the local baby group, he’s usually the only father there. People are often surprised that someone in a senior corporate role has chosen a four-day week and taken an extended period of Shared Parental Leave.

The scene reflects a broader Benchmark finding: policies cannot create impact if employees do not understand, trust, or feel confident using them. Around three quarters (75–85%) of enhanced policies include access conditions, while only 31% of organisations actively make their offer visible to applicants.

The question, then, is not simply “What does our policy offer?” but “How easy is it for employees to understand, access, and feel comfortable taking it?” Support that exists only on paper rarely changes behaviour.

The support gap hiding in plain sight

One of the clearest findings from this year’s Benchmark is not about policy at all. It is about managers.

While 67% of employers believe managers are confident supporting parental leave, only 52% of parents describe their manager as very well informed. Just a quarter of organisations provide managers with guidance or training.

Increasingly, the quality of parental leave support depends less on the policy itself than on the person delivering it.

"Meaningful support means saying to people, look, I trust you to do your job," explains James.

Flexibility that works in real life

One theme emerges repeatedly from James’s experience: flexibility – not as a workplace buzzword, but as a practical tool that enables family life to function.

For James, a four-day week creates an ‘anchor day’ devoted to parenting – but he is quick to emphasise that flexibility can take many forms, from working locations and hours to simply being trusted to deliver outcomes in a way that works for individual circumstances.

Flexibility helps parents manage childcare, illness and family responsibilities long after leave ends. As enhanced leave becomes more common, culture, communication and manager capability increasingly create competitive advantage.

Why family support is a business issue

As an economist, James also places parental support in a wider context. Pointing to falling birth rates, he argues that employers have an important role in helping people feel able to build families without putting their careers on hold.

When people do not have to choose between progression and family life, both can succeed: “Those people are more likely to stay with you, they’re more likely to grow with you, and they’re more likely to become your leaders of the future.”

From his professional perspective, James believes employees increasingly value non-monetary benefits. “One of the big things that comes up a lot is that culture matters enormously,” he adds. “If you feel comfortable that you can have a life outside of work, that’s going to make you enjoy your work more and be a better employee.”

Looking beyond leave

The Benchmark reveals where organisations increasingly create distinction. Competitive parental leave policies are becoming the norm. What employees remember is whether managers were prepared, whether communication was clear, and whether support continued beyond leave itself. The organisations that stand out are not simply those with the strongest policies, but those that consistently translate policy into experience.

As James puts it, “If you’re good to people, they’ll be good to you.”

Parental leave policy may open the door, but what happens next determines whether employees feel able – and willing – to walk back through it.

Want to see how your organisation compares? Download the Parental Leave Benchmark Report 2026 and explore the full picture of parental leave.