The Truth About Paternity Leave in UK Adland
Advertising loves its women – women in the C-suite, junior women, women from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, women in craft and strategy alike. Every year when International Women’s Day arrives, I have had the chance to speak to advertising executives about their boundless love for diversity and equality, the joyful spirit of the one day of the year where we get to celebrate, and reflect on, being women.
Naturally, lately International Women’s Day was under scrutiny for being only a day, so to remedy this mistake, International Women’s Month emerged. A month dedicated to the above-mentioned sentiments – looking at great work women have done, and applauding men for allowing some of their female counterparts to reach a desired career progression.
But beyond the joy and ceremony, how does the advertising industry actually help the women it so loves? In a world where, as Hannah White of New Commercial Arts reminds us, only 24% of creative directors are women, and the gender pay gap runs rampant, increasing by more than 1% in the year 2024, where does celebration take us?
Historically, International Women’s Day started as a day of revolt. Today, advertising executives will have us know all the above dire percentages, but finish their comment by telling us that ‘strides are being made nevertheless’.
The tokenism, especially around the dreaded March celebrations, runs so deep, that if you even attempt to chip away at it by calling it what it is, the industry wails like a wounded animal, throwing ‘emerging female talent’ at you in fear.
In fact, when first reaching out for this piece, a fair few people were unhappy with the way I’m approaching International Women’s Day and daring to look away from praising women for being women, and ‘recentring’ the discussion on men. The reality check here is that men are central to women reaching equality in a patriarchal society that hurts men and women alike albeit to different degrees.
In this piece, celebration can take a step back while we look at some facts. Starting with this one – paternity leave is inextricably a women’s issue, and it is central to the unseen and unpaid labour women do at every level of their lives.
As Milana Karaica let us know in her incredible kick-off of our new series ‘Motherland in Adland’, advertising is often harsh on mothers, with many of them not ever being able to return to their career after having children. Those who choose to become mothers often end up working through their motherhood, having to juggle immense amounts of workload and responsibility.
At the same time, the Centre for Progressive Policy found that a woman’s partner taking parental leave is associated with a 34% increase in the likelihood of a woman being physically ready to return to work. Once women became ‘free’ enough to work, they took on two jobs – one of a carer, and another one of a worker. Giving their partners caring responsibility, and the possibility of taking them on through parental leave, is what advertising needs to do to stand behind its feminist claims.
For the sake of keeping this piece focused, we are talking largely about heterosexual men and women here, but we are conscious that this issue extends to the LGBTQ+ community in yet more complex ways. Parental leave impacts different lives in many different ways, but considering the lack of provision across the board, we’ve tried to narrow the discussion today in the interest of clarity.
In the same spirit, we’ll be looking specifically at UK businesses. As every country has different legal provisions for parents, it would be unfair to compare approaches across borders.
One last note of reference to keep in mind before we delve into all of this – at two weeks old, a baby isn’t able to fully lift their head yet and their eyesight is still not fully developed. At four weeks, most babies have just begun tracking objects with their eyes and making cooing sounds.
One last note of reference to keep in mind before we delve into all of this – at two weeks old, a baby isn’t able to fully lift their head yet and their eyesight is still not fully developed. At four weeks, most babies have just begun tracking objects with their eyes and making cooing sounds.
So what paternity leave do your favourite UK creative companies have?
BBH’s Sandra Ajidahun, head of HR, tells us that the agency’s paternity leave policy reflects its belief that “genuine workplace equality is achieved not just through policies that support women, but also through those that empower men to take on equal responsibility in parenting.” That’s four weeks of fully paid leave, on top of its Shared Paternal Leave policy giving both parents flexibility in how to share the care of their child in the first year of its life.
“It’s worth addressing the way we talk about working parents too,” adds Sandra. “We often hear the term ‘working mum’ used to describe women balancing careers and children, yet ‘working dad’ is rarely part of the conversation.”
A subtle, yet significant distinction further underlining the assumption that caregiving is a mother’s job, only mended by continuously implementing industry-wide paternity leave policies and actively encouraging fathers to take time to care for their children.
“Offering paternity leave isn’t just about keeping up with industry trends. It’s about driving meaningful change. If we want to see true equality in the workplace, we need to start by ensuring equality in the home,” says Sandra.
AMV Group people director Sadie Ewing-Wilson adds that it's extremely important for new parents to be allowed to adjust to the seismic shift of a baby's arrival, and the notion that this adjustment shouldn't extend to the partners of the birthing mother is "quite frankly, ridiculous."
"As businesses, we have a responsibility to do what we can to contribute to a cultural shift. The current policy at AMV of three months fully paid paternity leave is a step in the right direction. And we have ambitions to go further."
Hannah Beckett, head of people and operations at UNKNOWN, echoes the sentiment that paternity leave isn’t just for spending time with your newborn, but also for supporting the mother, who “due to how we currently structure parental policy in the UK is likely to be taking on the primary caregiving role.”
"As businesses, we have a responsibility to do what we can to contribute to a cultural shift. The current policy at AMV of three months fully paid paternity leave is a step in the right direction. And we have ambitions to go further."
Hannah Beckett, head of people and operations at UNKNOWN, echoes the sentiment that paternity leave isn’t just for spending time with your newborn, but also for supporting the mother, who “due to how we currently structure parental policy in the UK is likely to be taking on the primary caregiving role.”
“Pushing back on the government statutory framework and creating more inclusive policies, means we can normalise all parental responsibility from the beginning of any employee’s journey, meaning equity far before the parents return to work. For real progress, change needs to come before the leave itself.”
This would include open and honest discussion with all parents about what they need, extra dependency days and flexibility on hours, as well as ensuring paternity leave is taken as seriously as maternity leave, not treated as time off.
Similarly, The Gate, who prides itself on believing that ‘normal’ doesn’t exist and has built its company on the celebration of diversity and individuality, knows that true equity means changing ‘working mums’ to ‘working parents’.
The Gate’s paternity policy is four weeks with full pay after two years working at the company, with up to four weeks of ‘work from anywhere’ each year and a flexible three-days-in-office policy. On the flip side, its maternity leave is 16 weeks of full pay and 16 weeks half pay after two years.
A spokesperson from The Gate adds that another factor the agency considers are the costs associated with childcare, which can make returning to work difficult for some parents. “For this reason, we introduced the Nursery Workplace Scheme benefit last year, eligible to all employees.” This scheme allows employees to make use of salary sacrifice to reduce their nursery costs and ease pressure.
Simon Ambrose, growth director at global agency Locaria, meditates over the stark differences he sees in paternity policies between the countries his company operates in:
“While statutory paternity in the UK is limited to one to two weeks with pay often lower than an employee’s regular wage, in Spain, where we have a bulk of our language and back office operations, employees receive 16 weeks of fully paid paternity leave.” Remember, this is the same as what mums receive in the UK.
Simon continues: “While the UK policies necessitate minimal short-term disruption, the Spanish provision requires businesses to plan for extended absences at often short notice, requiring rapid adjustments to staffing and workload payments, resulting in the financial impact on the company as negligible when compared to offices in the UK, paying enhanced paternity benefits out of their own pocket.”
Going back to what Hannah explained, it becomes clear that smaller businesses or start ups would be more likely to suffer impact from these differences in government support.
Exemplary to this, Hyphen, part of Omnicom, has taken steps to actually bridge the gap between the Government Statutory Pay of £184.03 per week and full pay. “From day one, all employees, regardless of their length of service, are granted the benefit of two weeks’ full pay. This initiative ensures that both new and long-standing employees can have peace of mind, knowing they will receive full financial support during this crucial period,” says Nicola French, account director at Hyphen. On top of the two weeks full pay, dads at Hyphen are allowed to attend midwife and hospital appointments without taking annual leave.
In a similar vein, Gemma Wise, SVP people UK & EMEA tells us that Weber Shandwick is proud to be building a truly inclusive culture where everyone, regardless of gender, feels welcome, valued, and empowered to maintain a healthy work-life balance, especially during the early stages of parenthood.
This includes working with employees to discuss flexible core hours, hybrid working options and the “right to disconnect between 8PM and 8AM,” with these options available to everyone. Gemma believes that this way of working fosters a family friendly culture across the company.
Josh Harris, CEO at Neverland, tells us that his son was born during the first lockdown and complications during the birth led to serious health issues for Josh’s wife in the weeks following.
“We wouldn’t have made it through without both of us sharing the responsibilities, and two weeks paternity leave simply wasn’t enough,” he says.
“When I started Neverland, we introduced a new paternity policy giving dads six weeks of fully paid leave within the first 12 months, with the flexibility to take it when they need it. It’s not perfect, but it gives Neverlanders the best chance to thrive in those early months.”
Jodie Toomey, chief people officer, UK at T&Pm shares that the company celebrates International Women’s Day by championing shared childcare responsibilities to accelerate gender equity. In 2022, T&Pm enhanced its family-friendly policies, including 26 weeks of fully paid leave for maternity, paternity, shared parental, and adoption leave, with additional support for IVF.
This led to 33% of new parents utilising shared parental leave in 2024. Oli Feldwick, chief innovation officer says: “In the past, adland has asked too much of parents, often making the industry unworkable for mothers, and meaning that fathers have to miss out on being an active parent.
“In my 20s, working in advertising, I never saw or thought about kids or families. People would almost wear the family sacrifices they’d made as a badge of pride. Missing school plays and parents evenings to please a capricious creative director or pull a pitch all-nighter.”
“Now, I am proud to work somewhere that is trying to fix this, making it structurally and culturally easier for men to take more leave and work more flexibly. And where men can bring their dad-selves to work. Parenting takes practice – men need to actively make the time to learn through hands-on experience.”
Oli’s son surprised him by coming five weeks early, and T&Pm’s premature baby policy meant he could be there for an extended leave and be present in those early days. “I’m now excited to take an extra two months of shared parental leave, where I’m going to continue to master nappies, sleep training, and baby groups.”
But this isn’t all. Annabelle Walters, people director at OLIVER UK Group, reminds us that while expanding paternity leave is important, positioning it as the key solution to gender equity in caregiving risks ignoring numerous systemic disadvantages mothers continue to face – the motherhood penalty, hiring biases, unequal career progression.
“The assumption that increasing paternity leave ‘halves’ the caregiving load oversimplifies reality,” Annabelle says. “Workplace norms and cultural expectations still place most of the onus on mothers, regardless of leave policies.
“Instead of celebrating men’s involvement as an achievement, companies should focus on making parental leave genuinely equitable.”
For Annabelle, pushing paternity leave is not enough – companies should be looking at shared parental leave, ensuring policies support all parents, without reinforcing traditional gender roles. “The conversation has to centre on reducing career penalties for mothers, and normalising leave uptake for all caregivers – not just fathers in heterosexual relationships.”
Annabelle has developed a new family leave policy at OLIVER that she believes ensures true parity:
Equal, enhanced parental leave for all primary child carers across maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave, regardless of gender;
No carer penalty for taking leave, with structured support for reintegration;
A workplace culture shift that normalises primary caregiving for both men and women.
Men ‘stepping up’ to fatherhood responsibilities certainly isn’t a be-all-end-all fix. But it is a significant part of the widely-cited and mysterious ‘next steps’ many agencies talk about when referring to a future of true DE&I for women. It is evident that parts of adland are waking up to all of this. And while the lack of parental leave equality in employment law makes it a challenge for many businesses to address and bridge the gap, it seems clear that many parts of the industry are aware of the impact that company policy can make.
