Gene Kelly.

Laurence Olivier.

Thierry Henry.

What do these people have in common?

The answer? Their London statues were recently given a new accessory - a baby, courtesy of campaign group, The Dad Shift.

A coalition of men, dads and co-parents, The Dad Shift works to campaign for better paternity* leave in the UK, which is currently a woeful two weeks paid at less than half the minimum wage - yikes.

Only recently, Australia was in the same boat. Prior to July 2023, paid paternity leave was optional, capped at two weeks at minimum wage and needed to be taken in a continuous block. But now, thanks to new legislation, this is set to increase annually until 2026.

Now, as an employer, you might be thinking, “Sweet! There’s no need for me to offer additional parental leave if the government has it all sorted, right?”

Wrong. Let’s explore why.

Back in 2019, when paid paternity leave was optional, only one in 20 Australian fathers took advantage of it.

Why?

At the risk of generalising, one likely reason is because male partners tend to earn more than their female counterparts. It’s an unfortunate fact that Australia’s total average gender pay gap sits at 21.7%, according to the WGEA. With an extra mouth to feed, many parents simply can’t afford to sacrifice their salaries for minimum wage, even if it means spending more time with their new arrival.

Think about the impact that might have on an employee’s wellbeing, productivity, morale and overall experience with an organisation.

So, as employers and HR professionals who give a damn, what can we do to change this narrative?

Here are our five top tips for designing an inclusive parental leave policy:

1. Do more than the bare minimum!

• Talk to your executives about offering more than the minimum requirement of two weeks paid paternity leave and at more than minimum wage, to ensure that prospective parents feel valued and supported by your organisation.
• Remove any barriers to entry. Employees should be able to access your full parental leave offering immediately after commencing their employment with you.

2. Set a structured, supervised handover

• Put employees’ minds at ease that all their work will be taken care of, allowing them to completely clock out of work mode and focus on family time.
• Set the employee up for success upon their return by encouraging them to outline how they’d like the role handed back to them.

3. Offer opportunities to stay connected, if they’d like

• Does your organisation offer Keeping in Touch Days? This gives employees on parental leave the option to work 10 days during a 12-month period to help with their return to work.
• One of our own EBAers, Hannah, utilised this offering while on parental leave in 2023 and absolutely relished in it! In her words:

  “I was able to keep adding value and stay connected to the team. I also received a promotion during my parental leave, which was bloody brilliant and unexpected. It helped me feel like my career was still moving forward.”

  Read more about Hannah’s parental leave experience.

4. Facilitate a work environment where flexibility comes first

• Being flexible with when and how work gets done helps parents manage stress levels and increases engagement. Initiatives like meeting-free time during school pickup periods benefit everyone, not just parents.
• If you already consider yourself a pretty inclusive workplace, prove it! Try seeking certifications from inclusive organisations such as Family Friendly Workplaces or Work180. When prospective employees see these badges, they know you’re the real deal.

5. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, share the success stories!

• Remember to loudly and proudly share your parental leave policy, so your people know it exists, what to expect and how to access it.
• Encourage your employees and leaders (particularly men) to share their parental leave experiences, whether it’s through a casual chat in the lunchroom, a town hall or even an online forum like LinkedIn or Teams.

If you want to share these stories, but don’t know where to start, we might be able to help! Get in touch with us to see how we can help articulate your unique EVP and amplify your peoples’ stories.

* In this blog, we use the term paternity leave. We recognise that this term can be seen as reductive and outdated, as not all secondary caregivers are fathers. However, our discussion here is centred specifically on fathers, as the access to and uptake of paternity leave is an inherently gendered issue. While we recognise that equal access to parental leave is still an issue that needs to be addressed in families of all shapes and sizes, men accessing paternity leave is a unique problem within the broader conversation.