Quarter of parents don't use all their parental leave: Benefits Agency

Over a quarter of employed parents don’t make full use of the 9 weeks of parental leave each new parent has been entitled to since August 2022. Mothers only take an average of 6.9 weeks of leave and fathers 6.2 weeks. Mothers are also still twice as likely as fathers to take parental leave, RTL Nieuws reports based on figures from benefits agency UWV and employability specialist Robidus.

The paid parental leave scheme gives each new parent nine weeks of paid leave in the first year of their child’s life. The benefit pays 70 percent of their wages.

The main reason not to take all nine weeks of leave, for both men and women, is because the compensation is too low, making it financially unfeasible, figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) previously show.

At the same time, stress-related complaints continue to increase among young parents, Robidus found in its own research. CBS figures also show that illness absenteeism is highest in the age group 25 to 35 years. In that age group, 65 percent were absent from work due to illness at least once in the past year, compared to an average of just under 58 percent.

Robidus called the high absenteeism among young adults “worrying” and suspects that many parents struggle to find a good balance between their work and private life. “An employee can continue until he or she really collapses. But that benefits no one, neither the new family nor the employer,” a Robidus spokesperson told the broadcaster.

The employability specialist urged employers to encourage their employees to make full use of the parental leave scheme.