Changes to UK legislation - my bucket list

April 2020 will see some changes to employment law for HR professionals to get to grips with. Key changes will include new parental bereavement leave and pay regulations (Jacks Law) which is the most generous offer on parental bereavement pay and leave in the world.

This got me thinking about how the UK actually ranks against other countries in the world to work. Surprisingly to me, the UK is not regarded as well as I thought. For instance, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) categorises the UK as a rating of 3 which ranks us lower than a majority of other EU countries, as the map shows below (our 2019 rating hasn't changed).

Unfortunately, this viewpoint appears to be consistent with how the UK is viewed across the globe - InterNations ranks the UK 48th in their working abroad index and it really is a struggle to find a report which ranks the UK in the top 25 countries to work in the world.

Personally, I would like this to change and have therefore drawn up a bucket list of improvements we could make to employment practices which would make the UK a better place to work in.

Essential Changes

1. Equal Pay (Iceland)

Iceland (the country not the shop) has taken the lead on this as they have made it a legal requirement to pay men and women the same for jobs of equal value. In Iceland, employers have to show they follow the existing laws around equal pay and they have been ranked the world's best for overall gender equality.

The UK makes it compulsory for large companies to publish their gender pay gap (currently 17.3% for all employees in the UK in 2019). Whilst reports have shown it has consistently improved since 1997, there is still a gender pay gap that suggests workplace equality has not yet been achieved.

Once we have proactively enforced equal pay laws we can then look to address the ratio of men to women in well-paid senior roles - which in my opinion is another cause for concern.

2. Maternity Leave (Estonia)

The Independent reported in 2019 that the UK is one of the least family-friendly countries in the developed world. This is based on data from 41 developed countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, OECD). I understand that this refers to the statuary entitlements and most large corporate organisations offer an enhancement, the data shows that the UK ranks in the bottom 10 of the worst countries for maternity leave (34th).

Estonia is the most generous as it offers women 85 weeks' maternity leave at full pay after having a baby. A lack of commitment to maternity pay packages is indicative of a regressive attitude to parenthood, we should be doing more to reduce the drop off rate and increasing the number of women that remain in the workplace post-maternity leave.

Paid maternity leave has important health benefits, mothers who are physically and mentally healthier can better invest in their children. Studies have found that happier employees are up to 20% more productive.

3. Paternity Leave (Japan)

Keeping a family-friendly theme, the UK also ranks low for paternity leave accordingly to OECD (28th). In the UK fathers are offered two weeks' statutory paternity leave at £148.68 per week, which can put a financial strain on the family.

On the other hand fathers in Japan offers at least 6 months at full pay (only 5% of fathers actually take this).

Paternity leave is an important time for the family, offering a more generous paternity leave would help fathers bond with their babies and as a result of being more involved, it improves the dad's physical and mental health.

I have two kids and I found it really difficult having to leave home after the 2-week paternity leave. I felt that I haven't had enough time.

'Would Like' Changes

4. 'Right to Disconnect' (France)

I have experienced that colleagues are stressed, burnt out, overwhelmed which is all causing relationship difficulties. This is a result of a culture of compulsive out-of-hours email and message checking.

These are challenges that I have often seen as a result of employee engagement surveys. Consequently, companies have tried to put limits on their employees' use of work email outside of working hours for employees' own well-being.

For me, it is really important that a culture of rest time ensure we are advocating a true work-life balance in the UK. In this case, we can look at France for inspiration here. Employees in France have the legal right to avoid work emails outside working hours, this is dubbed the 'right to disconnect'.

Hopefully with a 'right to disconnect' we can establish a boundary between our professional and personal lives.

5. Holiday Email (Germany, Daimler)

On a similar note in regards to work and life balance, a pet peeve of mine is the dread of having to trawl through hundreds of emails when returning from a holiday. It's a shame that the nice feeling of being on holiday is tempered by the knowledge that we will have the anxiety of trawling through hundreds of emails.

Daimler in Germany has incorporated an innovative approach to holiday email that I think would be well received in the UK. Daimler has an auto-delete policy whereby emails received whilst on holiday will be deleted with the following message to the sender;

I am on vacation. I cannot read your email. Your email is being deleted. Please contact Employee A or Employee B if it's really important, or resend the email after I'm back in the office. Many thanks.

This hopefully will ensure that employees are taking full advantage of their time off, without fearing an overflowing inbox when they return.

Nice to Have Changes

6. Employee Bonus (Greece)

I have worked in companies that both have and haven't paid a bonus, so generally, I don't take receiving a bonus for granted. Having said that, bonuses are a great way to incentivise, reward and generally increase morale. In Greece, it is made mandatory for employers to provide both a Christmas and Easter bonus, each equivalent to 50% of an employee's monthly wage.

When exploring this further it is actually quite commonplace for this monetary benefit to be required by law and is generally regarded as a holiday bonus.

I have found preparing and writing this blog fun and I do believe that working in the UK is great. I am personally surprised that we wouldn't be ranked as a better country to work in.

What do you think could be improved? Please comment and share your thoughts...