Equal parenthood leave

You’ll get more than the statutory entitlements to maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave when you’ve been with us for a year. We provide these enhancements so you can have the time and money you need to raise a family.

Our family leave offering is open to all employees regardless of gender, sexual orientation or how someone becomes a parent. It allows both parents or caregivers to take a full 26 weeks of leave at 100% pay, including any statutory leave, without the need to reduce any ongoing leave.

Will Sandbrook, Executive Director, Nest Insight

"The new shared parental leave rules came in while my wife and I were expecting our first child. We’d always wanted to share the early childcare as much as possible but weren’t sure how viable this would be. Even with the new rules, the statutory obligations around pay would've made it hard for me to take more than a few weeks off.

Nest took a quick decision to pay enhanced shared parental pay in line with its existing maternity pay policies – far more generous at the time than most employers. They then provided us with loads of help interpreting the rules around eligibility – which at the time were brand new and hard to navigate. This gave a really clear signal that Nest wanted me to take the time if I and my partner wanted it, which was really important. The result was that I took 6 months caring for my son while my wife went back to her career.

It was incredible. Really hard, but really rewarding and an incredible way for us to bond. I was so grateful to Nest for making it possible. We did the same thing with our second son, and many others at all levels of Nest have taken similar paths since. This is just part of Nest’s open-minded approach to supporting colleagues with their work-life balance, which is a huge part of what I like about working here."

Will Sandbrook, Executive Director, Nest Insight

"Like any parent I of course wanted to be as involved with my child as I could be and also to share as much of the caring responsibilities with my partner as possible. It was clear shared parental leave would massively help with this goal so I jumped at this opportunity.

My experience with it has been brilliant! As a result, I’m closer to my child and their needs as I took on primary carer responsibility over a sustained period of time. Clearly you’re hardly an absent parent if you don’t have access to the benefit but it does allow you to spend more time with your child and make things easier then they would be. I feel it's helped me bond with my child more quickly than perhaps I would've done if I didn’t have the benefit of shared parental leave.

Nest made the process incredibly easy. My line manager and directorate head were very supportive. I also reached out to others at Nest who’d done it before and they were nothing but effusive about how the process works and is implemented. Speaking to HR was also very easy and they helped me step through the process, which feels complex initially in the way it interacts with maternity leave to the uninitiated. But they explained it very clearly and made the paperwork straight forward.

The key thing for me is the support provided on your return. What will it be like when I come back? Will things have moved on? Will I get my work back? Women have of course grappled with this issue before for maternity leave. I needn't have worried - I was made to feel welcome and as part of the team and its function as I was before shared parental leave."

Michael Hames, Director of Pensions & Tax Law

Equal parenthood leave

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