TheParental Fog Index-Cross Industry Report* – the sixth, annual benchmark – highights the transparency of parental benefits for the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, published on their websites.

As progress toward workplace gender equity declines, the number of employers that actively promote their family-friendly credentials has grown to a five-year high, according to new research conducted by ECC, a firm which helps employers improve gender balance.

Over a third more (35%) top employers actively market their family-friendly details compared with the first report in 2019, which suggests more employers understand the need to competitively market their support for working parents as organisations struggle to hold onto senior female talent and the gender and promotion pay gap grows.

The number of employers that showcase their support through vlogs and blogs is at a record high (60%) up 11% on last year. Almost every employer talk about their commitment to working parents (97%) up 3%, this marks an upward trend of organisations showcasing visible role models across the company to demonstrate how their parental support policies are integrated into the organisational culture.

For the first time, an equal number of employers publish pay and leave details of their paternity policy as maternity policy, up 21% on last year to 57%. A significant change at a time when more organisations recognise the motherhood penalty will not be eradicated until men are supported to equally share parenting responsibilities.

Encouraging the number of employers failing to make any refence to support for working parents has plummeted over the last six years from 31 in 2019 to 1. This suggests employers understand the business need to actively support working parents.

Despite this positive trend, a quarter of employers mention parental policies on their website in general terms but provide no clear details.

Overall, twenty companies that appeared in last year’s report improved their ranking while a further 43 maintained last year’s position.  Despite this there was a 4% drop in the number of employers awarded top-ranking, Beacon status.  No Beacon employer communicated that they track the pay and progress of flexible workers

The study, which placed employers into five categories of visibility, rated 7% of employers in its top ‘Beacon’ group, down from 11% last year.  A further 47% of businesses reached ‘Fully Visible’ status, an increase of 10% from last year.  In addition to publishing full details of parental policies, these employers actively market their support to working parents as core to their employer brand.

For the 35% of businesses rated as ‘Visible’, those who talk generally about parental support without providing details, the 10% rated ‘Foggy’, who say they support working parents but don’t say how, and the 1% rated as ‘Invisible’, where no evidence of support can be found, one simple change – the addition of parental policies including pay and duration of parental leave – would see them meet the threshold for parental transparency making them “Fully Visible”.

Commenting on this year’s report Helen Ilsley, Parental Coaching Lead at The Executive Coaching Consultancy said:

“I hope the increase in employers promoting support for working parents this year, especially extended paid paternity leave, marks a turning point for workplace gender equity. Evidence shows that encouraging dads to share parenting equally is key to reducing the motherhood penalty, which drives 80% of the gender pay gap. While many organisations offer flexibility to women, it often comes at the expense of their careers. To truly retain talented women and close the gender pay gap, organisations must ensure men can take paternity leave without facing a ‘fatherhood penalty’, this means tracking the career and pay progressions of all workers and openly share this with all employees”.

*From Executive Coaching Consultancy The Parental Fog Index 2024 Cross Industry Report: Why equal parenting drives gender equity at work and how leaders can support dads to be equal parents – is available to download here.