In today’s society, we are constantly re-inventing the way we do things, skype business meetings, voice notes instead of emails but what about the way we approach maternity & paternity leave in the workplace? Although we have evolved and many workplaces have begun to embrace and encourage flexible work schedules, somehow a place for beginning a family has been left out. As a Human Resource professional and champion for gender equality, the topic of parental leave has intrigued me over the years.
After seeing the initiative taken by tech companies and listening to woman first hand who had just re-integrated herself back into the workforce in google I saw the importance of retaining top talent by implementing sustainable and realistic maternity & paternity policies. I will be exploring maternity & paternity policies and gaining first hand insights into hospitality’s employee’s experiences via interviews.
I’ve chosen to focus on hospitality as this was my former industry but also in particular because there is a very clear drop in female leadership from operational roles in management (i.e. F&B Manager and Front Office Manager) to operational director and general manger roles. Hospitality is an interesting industry because many roles will not be automated anytime soon, so how can the hospitality industry work towards creating more inclusive and innovative paternity & maternity policies? What are the benefits for the company and employees? During this exploration we are positioning this topic, not as a “women’s” or “men’s” issue but as a business problem. What is the ROI for investing in time and money in the creation of these policies?
Before we begin this expedition into the complex world of policies, let’s start with the basics and clarify a few terms we will be using throughout this blog series.
A Policy is a set of ideas or plans that is used as a basis for making decisions, especially in politics, economics or business
Maternity leave is described as a “leave of absence for an expectant or new mother for the birth and care of the baby.”
Maternity & Paternity leave policies vary from country to country and company to company but one thing they have in common is that they all need to be updated. Currently Paternity leave, which is intended for the father is only found in 78 countries (Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch(GED)-Conditions of Work and Equality Department, 2014).
The International Labour Organization emphasized that one of the main reasons for putting such policies in place is “employment protection” (International Labour Organisation, 1998). The ILO states that an “essential” part of maternity protection is a “legal guarantee” to women they will not lose their jobs as a result of absence due to maternity leave (International Labour Organisation, 1998).
The current standard from ILO is 12 weeks of maternity leave, this does not apply to paternity leave (International Labour Organisation, 1998). Maternity leave also protects medical and cash benefits of expecting mothers. Medical and Cash benefits are crucial to allow women to take maternity leave and return back to work only after they are in a healthy state (International Labour Organisation, 1998).
One of the surprising things about investigating parental leave is comparing leave given per country. I encourage you to check out the below links from the ILO and explore the disparity of paid maternity & paternity leave given between countries, you may be shocked. Let me know your comments below! Which country were you the most shocked by?
If like me, you understand that this topic connects business and community, stay with me as next post we will take a deeper dive into Paternity leave and a special opportunity to discuss with a father of 3 and a Vice President in a MNC, how he experienced and dealt with fatherhood and his career.
I will leave you with a quick recap from the ILO!
Thanks for reading!
Nisha
100 years of maternity protection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdxJTbteWqg
Maternity protection at work: It matters to everyone
Very important topic, and the only way we’ll ever have true equality in the workplace, also for two moms or two dads!
Hi Olivier,
I completly agree, there are so many ways a family can be formed these days. I am looking forward to learning more about parental leave policies for same sex couples. Stay tuned!
Hi Nisha,
I like your topic a lot, it is such an underrated issue and more attention should be given to it, glad you are raising awareness! I’m interested in your interview partners and their insights, looking forward to future posts.
About the countries, personally Slovenia as one of the longest paternity leaves with 90 days was surprising for me as well as Croatia for maternity leave with over a year, 410 days! That’s amazing, wish more countries would be closer to this number.
Hi Eszter,
Thank you for your insightful comment! Wow, I have mostly worked in Asia Pacific so I am very interested in investigating the situation in different parts of Europe.