Paternity Leaves And Setting Up A Broader Culture Of Care

HR leaders can help encourage new fathers to rethink their work-life balance

When designing leave policies and establishing the corporate culture around them, it’s tempting to think of them as simply a cost. Especially for something like paternity leave, you might view it as a burden on workplaces. But that’s far from the case. In fact, the evidence is clear that strong paternity leave policies – and a culture of work-life balance that surrounds them – produce better business outcomes.

So how can you as an HR leader build a corporate policy and culture that lets new fathers know that not only is taking paternity leave good for them and their family, but also good for their workplace?

Parental leave benefits in the United States are deplorable by the standards of the rest of the developed world – it is the only wealthy country in the world where federal law does not guarantee paid time off for new parents. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) – which applies to public agencies, schools, and companies with 50 or more employees –  only requires companies to grant new parents 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave. (The Senate recently rejected an effort by the Biden administration to adopt more generous laws.) One of the consequences of the federal shortfall is that fewer men than women take family leave.

In 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, 17% of women in the labor force took leave under the FMLA according to the U.S. Department of Labor. By contrast, 14% of men took FMLA leave. While women took an average of 35 days off, men took an average of 21 days. (The federal data does not address gender-nonconforming people or same-sex couples.)

This has consequences, and not just for families. Taking time off for the birth of a child can positively impact a parent’s work productivity and job retention. A 2020 study of working fathers by McKinsey found that dads felt “more motivated” after taking paternity leave and were considering staying with their organizations longer.

A retrograde work culture tells new dads to prioritize their work above everything else, and assumes – wrongly – that skipping paternity leave makes a new father a better worker. Neither of those assumptions is true.

As an employer, you can signal that your culture embraces work-life balance and a gender-neutral culture of care by embracing those who take paternity leave – as well as ensuring that their career paths don’t languish when they return to the workforce. To start, parental leave policies should grant leave to new parents based on their identities as either primary or secondary caregivers, rather than be determined by gender.

As the 2020 McKinsey survey concluded, “having the right policy in place wasn’t sufficient if the work culture looked down on them for taking time off.”

As an HR leader, you can help encourage new fathers to rethink their work-life balance. As one childcare expert put it, “I invite people to take micro-moments of self-care ... So the relentlessness you felt yesterday might not be such a big deal today, because you took that time out for yourself, and it sort of has a ripple effect.”

As an employer, you can provide more flexibility to new fathers so they can find the time to take care of their children, their partners, or themselves.

A company that embraces paternity leave can help you attract the best candidates to join you.

Firms like Netflix offer new parents the first year off and “have made paid family leave a central plank of their benefits package,” according to the Financial Times.

Netflix is also among the recognized companies that have expanded parental leave in terms of the amount of time they allow and who is eligible for the benefit, including transgender employees. The strategy can be a critical selling point for job seekers who are looking for work arrangements that respect the flexibility of working from home.

It may be hard for some employers to admit, but work is only one part of people’s lives. The more you can let them be people first, and employees second, the more likely your employees will remain loyal, productive, and happy.

Taking action to support new fathers, and all parents – inclusive of gender or family structure – is a key aspect of building and maintaining a psychologically safe work culture. One in which policies for parental leave are meaningful, by taking into account the distinct needs of individuals. When people are treated like people – supported by a culture that prioritizes their needs in life and work – psychosocial risks are reduced, making way for a healthier workforce to flourish.