The role of employers in reducing the implementation gap in leave policies

Although parents in almost all rich democracies are entitled to some form of paid parenting leave, fathers in particular often do not take all the leave available to them. As employers play an important role in the implementation of parenting leave policies, this article investigates what workplace characteristics influence mothers' and fathers' uptake of their statutory leave entitlements. In Part 1, we combine data from the OECD and the European Labor Force Survey to estimate the size of the "implementation gap" between statutory leave entitlements and leave uptake for mothers and fathers, and compare the size of this gap across countries. In Parts 2 and 3, we review the literature on structural and cultural workplace factors that promote or hinder parenting leave uptake. We conclude the article with suggestions for further research and stress the need for reliable data on the uptake of parenting leave entitlements and research on non-European countries.