can maternity and paternity leave be different

Lastly, reason-blind leave policies signal to employees that they are trusted, which is a key to unlocking many of the benefits of inclusion in the workplace, including greater productivity and engagement. During the first six months, one parent is entitled to work part-time and receive compensation for it. The mother is entitled to four weeks' maternity leave prior to giving birth and 14 weeks after; the father is entitled to two weeks' leave after the birth; and the remaining time can be divided according to individual wishes. Explain that you would like to show this policy video during the section of onboarding that teaches new hires about company benefits. Learn more about gender equality regulations around the world and discover how they might affect your organisation with PwC's Global Gender Pay Compass. Financial considerations often play an important role, given the gendered division in pay. Moreover, traditional ideas of women as caregivers and men as breadwinners persist. This career interruption often reflects the personal choice of women to spend more time with their young children. Secondly, other women may sacrifice their careers because they think that society expects this of them, even though they may not want to. Equal paternal leave is unnecessary to underscore equality of parenthood: firstly, equality of parenthood is not about who spends the early months with the child but rather about parents providing mutual support for each other and raising the child together. To help you distribute the video you’ve created, we’ve outlined three strategies below for sharing. In addition, given the growing number of non-traditional families (for example those with two fathers or two mothers) it is valuable to show that society regards such social parents as equal and that biological mothers have no greater claim to children. Thus regulation alone does not deliver the intended outcome, and financial considerations are not the main motivating factors in the allocation of caring duties. Furthermore, if some women are indeed socially conditioned to want to sacrifice their careers for childcare, forcing men to spend a few months at home after the child’s birth is unlikely to make any difference to society’s expectations. After planning the content of your video, it’s time to begin production. A summary of the core information of your policy, An invitation for the employee to reach out with any questions they may have. In the weeks and months after watching your video, employees will remember the key details of your company’s parental leave policy. Should the Cell Phones Be Allowed in Schools. VYOND™ is a trademark of GoAnimate, Inc., registered in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, the European Union, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, OAPI, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam; Reg. You must understand how parental leave laws vary in states where your business is located to plan how your video messaging will need to change for each location. With that said, you don’t want to overwhelm employees with too many words or you’ll quickly lose their attention. Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy. Gendered differences in employment and wages persist in most countries and these gaps are closely linked to childbirth, a phenomenon referred to as the "child penalty". DebateWise. Here, we take a look at the different requirements around maternity, paternity, and adoptive leave, and how they affect employers and global payroll teams. Scandinavian countries assign a substantial paid leave quota to each parent. This is unlikely to improve the relationship with that child. Using this guide, you can create a compelling video that simplifies your policy information by breaking it down visually. If fulfilling my preference to care for my children makes me happy, why should the state tell me that my interests would be better served through different choices which would make me less happy? Forcing men and women to take equal maternity and paternity leave prevents employers from identifying one gender as a risk, removing the incentive to employ men ahead of women. It is obvious that different parents have different skills and can contribute different things to a child’s upbringing. Refresh their memory by sending along your video when they announce that they are expecting a child and request leave. Given that those without children have none of the pleasures of raising children and already subsidise education and child benefit, it is unclear why they should suffer a further burden. In an increasing number of countries, however, part of the paid leave may be transferred from the mother to the father on a voluntary basis. Moreover, their ability to breastfeed and the hormonal bond which develops between mother and child during pregnancy indicate that women may have comparative advantage in caring for the child at this stage. Use your video to highlight the most important parts of your policy for employees. Forcing parents to take equal leave would emphasise the fact that parenthood is a joint enterprise between the two parents, both of whom are equally important. As a result, we created the Parental Leave Compass. Lydia Walter 30 Sep 2020. In Sweden, for example, parents are allocated 300 days of paid leave, of which 90 days may not be transferred to the other parent. Often, people are unsure about their companies’ parental leave policies, and they might even feel scared about asking for the time off, for fear of losing their jobs. Parents who care for children immediately after their birth when they at their most dependent and vulnerable are likely to develop stronger emotional bonds with that child. While Japan has one of the most generous leave policies for fathers – with up to 52 non-transferable weeks – only 6% of Japanese men make use of it. Your employees’ personal lives are going to vary quite a bit from person to person—that diversity is what makes your company a rich and interesting place to work. Lower employees’ anxiety by clearly explaining your parental leave policies. If parents separate, judges are more likely to place children with their mother. However, "excessively" long leave and part-time employment can decrease women’s participation in the labour market. This table explains the differences between the types of leave for parents. When an employee is expecting a child, reading through parental leave policy documentation can be confusing and stressful. This eliminates the bureaucratic hurdles associated with patchwork families, same-sex couples or caring for elderly relatives and friends. (You must have an active Vyond free trial or paid account to access the template.). Women’s economic empowerment is a key pillar of economic growth and a driver for innovation within firms and organisations. The idea that women (or men) are unable to make informed decisions because of social conditioning misunderstands the idea of choice. There are many cases, for example where one parent has a more successful career, where decisions about childcare can be made in an informed way without the need for both parents to spend time at home. From a young age, women are encouraged to play with dolls and to be caring, leading to expectations within both society and individual couples that the mother is more suited to caring for children. Are employees allowed or expected to use their paid time off (PTO) during their parental leave? With that in mind, employers try to attract the brightest employees with leave benefits that go beyond the legal minimum. Young women are often perceived by employers to be a risk: there is a serious possibility that they will become pregnant and take long periods of time off work. If more children grow up in homes where their parents view each other as equals, this will increase their expectations of equality within society as a whole, in turn making society more equal. At PwC, we advise organisations on diversity & inclusion to unleash the hidden potential of their workforce and partners and unlock new business opportunities. However, the mere existence of non-transferrable leave is not enough to make equal childcare a reality. Such claims are likely to lead to resentment. Besides providing a detailed perspective on leave regulations globally, we grouped countries with similar leave systems to allow for a better understanding of this complex topic.