Kudos to Deloitte for equalizing parental leave (at least in the U.K.) by giving fathers 6 months of leave as well.
The first sentence from The Telegraph story reads like something I say every time I speak with corporate HR leaders and managers: “Deloitte is to give all new fathers at least six months off work as it seeks to increase its number of female partners.”
It’s not being nice, it’s not corporate kindness. Giving fathers equal time off – and let’s face it, mandating that they take it and training their managers so they don’t torpedo the policy with a couple of unhelpful comments – is key to building a resilient workforce.
Men who take their full parental leave become Lead Dads in their families.
At work these Lead Dads become natural allies of Working Moms (and by extension caregivers, in general.) Parenting at work becomes less gendered: moms and dads become part of the conversation and begin modeling and working on what the workplace of the future will look like.
Short term: this is great for retention. No one wants to work for a company that says one thing about caring for its employees, but does something in opposition to that.
Long term: Equal parental leave and – let’s hope – more open discussions about parenting as children grow will begin allow the employees most capable of leading a very different workforce to shine. It may be men, it may be women. But time in the office away from your family won’t be the deciding criteria. How someone works and manages in a more complicated world than just five years ago will be what counts.
Ironic side note: the piece after Deloitte’s decision in this Yahoo News roundup is the news that Amazon will require workers to return to the office 5 days a week, which goes against all the research that shows 3 days in the office is optimal. (H/T Nick Bloom).
Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eesatnQ4
