This section used survey data from 501 employers and interview data from 41 employers who were registered to pay, had paid or were paying PLP to at least one employee as of 1 July 2011. The section outlines the employer role, organisational policies and leave provisions, managing PLP within the organisation, managing PLP with employees, and the awareness and use of KIT provisions.
Few changes were made to employer-paid leave as a result of PPL.
• Only 20 per cent of employers who offered employer-paid leave made changes to these policies leading up to or following the introduction of PPL. • Medium-sized organisations were significantly more likely to make changes to
their existing policies: 30 per cent of medium-sized employers changed their employer-provided leave in comparison to 18 per cent of large and 7 per cent of small employers.
• Nearly half (48 per cent) of the 39 employers who changed their leave policies introduced a new policy in combination with PPL, 42 per cent increased their existing policy by combining it with PLP, 28 per cent created a new stand alone policy and 26 per cent topped up their existing policies and 18 per cent increased their existing policies.
• Among employers who offered paid leave and made changes to employer- provided leave, 13 per cent (5 employers) reduced their existing leave policies and just 11 per cent (4 employers) withdrew their existing policies.
138 • Only 12 per cent of all organisations made changes to HR practices as a result
of the introduction of PPL.
• Large organisations were significantly more likely to make changes to HR practices (17 per cent) in comparison to medium (10 per cent) and small (8 per cent) organisations.
• Among the small number of employers who introduced changes to HR practices, these included introducing processes to manage PLP requests (70 per cent), better managing employee expectations about parental leave (54 per cent), re-educating managers to ensure non-discriminatory behaviour (48 per cent) and checking hiring procedures to ensure there is no bias with regard to women of child-bearing age (41 per cent).
• In organisations with no formal HR policies to manage leave around the birth of a child, only 12 per cent of employers made changes to what the organisation does if an employee informs them they are pregnant.
The evaluation of how PLP was managed within the organisation reveals that few difficulties were encountered in sourcing information, registering for PPL and making PLP payments.
• Employers found it easy to source information about PPL: 83 per cent of all organisations agreed or strongly agreed that it was easy to get information. • Nearly all (92 per cent) employers agreed or strongly agreed that the
information about the PPL scheme was accurate and 89 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the information about the PPL scheme was helpful.
• The interviews with employers suggest that there were only minor difficulties in obtaining information about the PPL scheme in the beginning. In general, finding information was relatively easy and unproblematic.
Employers found registering for the PPL scheme to be easy.
• Two-thirds (68 per cent) of all employers agreed or strongly agreed that it was easy to register for PPL. There are no significant differences across organisational size.
• The interview data confirms the survey data, suggesting that there were only minor difficulties in registering for the scheme.
Employers also found making payments easy, but sometimes time consuming.
• The majority of employers felt it was easy to organise payments for PLP: 79 per cent of all organisations agreed or strongly agreed that this was the case. Just 18 per cent of employers disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that it was easy to organise payments for PLP. There are no significant differences across organisational size.
• Experiences with respect to whether organising payments was time consuming were mixed. About half of employers did not find it to be time consuming. However, some 41 per cent of all organisations agreed or strongly agreed that organising payments for PLP has been time-consuming.
Less than half (39 per cent) of employers reported making payroll changes to implement PLP.
• Among those employers who reported changes, these changes often included updating the employers’ own payroll system (78 per cent), receiving an update from a commercial system (30 per cent) and discussing payroll changes with an external company (15 per cent).
• In the interviews, employers said that payroll changes were not seen to be particularly time-consuming or costly.
139 Both the survey and interview data confirm that employers felt costs involved in implementing PLP were minimal.
In terms of more general attitudes to the scheme:
• Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of all organisations agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that the PPL scheme has been easy to implement in the organisation.
• When asked whether it was better for their organisation if an employee took the BB rather than PLP, most employers responded in a neutral manner, with 40 per cent of all organisations neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement.
• The positive and at times ambivalent general attitudes of employers towards the PPL scheme evident in the survey were mirrored in the interviews.
Lastly, awareness of KIT provisions is low, but intended use among employers aware of KIT provisions is high.
• Half of employers (50 per cent) reported being aware of the KIT provisions. • Among employers who were aware of the KIT provisions, 79 per cent of
employers intended to use them.
• In organisations where employers were aware of KIT provisions, 51 per cent of employers reported that employees had made use of the KIT provisions. This differed significantly across organisational size, with smaller organisations more likely to have used the provisions than large ones.
• More than half (59 per cent) of all employers that used the KIT provisions felt the provisions were beneficial to the organisation.
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6 MAIN FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS
This report has analysed the development of the PPL scheme and its early operation, focusing on the scheme’s immediate outcomes and initial operation. In this final chapter, the main findings are summarised, and their main implications are outlined. In particular, any aspects of the scheme that may need modification or monitoring are identified.