There’s a lot of talk about paid parental leave and why it’s good for business and families. But what we really need is less talk and more action.
I’m a mum to three kids aged 9, 14 and 16 and I know the inner dialogue that plagues some mums about leaving their kids to return to work, or the diminished confidence that you feel from taking time out to be the primary carer. It’s a dialogue that stays with you for years as you weigh up the trade-offs, your kids and your finances on a regular basis.
So any support, including financial, that we can offer to make the whole experience less stressful is a good thing. As the lead of People & Culture for an ASX listed company with more than 50% of our people aged 35 and under, paid parental leave is essential for attracting and retaining women, and for creating a workplace that values and respects that coming to work doesn’t mean leaving your personal life at home.
The economic argument
If you take an economic view of why it makes sense to have women in the workforce, there is plenty of evidence there too.
Finding and keeping high performing people is something that keeps many a business leader awake at night.
When you consider the cost of employee turnover, often estimated to be a full year’s salary, it makes good business sense to offer benefits that keep your people happy and engaged.
We know that women are more likely to re-enter the workforce after they have taken paid parental leave: a survey by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency found organisations offering paid maternity leave had an 11 per cent higher average retention rate than those that didn’t.
I work in the technology industry where competition for talent is intense and turnover is high, sitting above the Australian average of 16 per cent.
The scarcity of digital talent in Australia means our young and highly skilled workforce operates in a ‘buyer’s market’ and we have to be bold and deliberate about what benefits are really going to hit home. A generous paid parental leave offer is therefore a core part of our people strategy.
The innovation argument
We’re a digital business at the forefront of our industry and we plan to stay there. Apart from our agility and our culture, fostering innovation is critical to our future success.
There is a load of research to show that innovation comes from the intersection of difference, which means the more diverse views we have around the table, the more the ideas flow. It would be easy for us to not have a diverse workforce, given the scarcity of women in IT roles. But we know that having women make up 40 per cent of our workforce means we’re all round a better business.
The social argument
The stats on women in leadership roles is irrefutable. Last time I checked we were still ranking low amongst the OECD countries and progress is painfully slow.
You just need to look at the misalignment between the number of women who are graduating and those who are in leadership roles. The only way this is going to change is if we, as a society, step up and make change happen.
In our business, we see paid parental leave as a way to show our mums and dads that we care and want to support them through the exciting but sometimes stressful time of having a child.
And we think it’s a way that we can help drive social change, especially through secondary carers’ leave. Research shows that decent secondary care paid leave increases the involvement of dads in their children’s lives.
Being able to spend more time with your kids, especially in their early months, encourages greater sharing of primary caring and what I like to call ‘primary thinking’ – you know, the thinking that (usually) women do for their families such as booking immunisations, planning holidays, birthday parties, play dates and present buying, regardless of how busy they are in their working lives.
Even though you might not actually buy the present or host the playdate, the thinking is just as important. And it can be exhausting.
When men have an opportunity to take parental leave, whether as a primary or secondary carer, they also have an opportunity to share the primary thinking responsibilities.
That is why we have generous secondary carer’s leave at REA– so that families have the opportunity to find out how they will work together and decide what roles work best for their individual situation.
One of our employees who took six months’ parental leave last year describes his days as “filled with walks, tummy time, googling what that rash means, swimming lessons, jimbaroo, doctors’ appointments, reading, singing, laughing and crying.”. He said it was “incredibly stressful, challenging and exhilarating all at the same time”. You can read more about this special time in his life here.
He also spoke of how it gave his wife a chance to go back to work when she was ready, and for him to be more confident in his ability as a parent.
Imagine if all parents had this opportunity? We would start to see some real social change and rapid gains in gender equality at work and at home.
So what’s stopping us then?
The paid parental leave debate is not about whether it’s a good thing, for companies who can afford it, it’s a case of “just do it”. At REA Group, that’s exactly what we’ve done.
We recently introduced a gender neutral parental leave policy with six months’ paid parental leave for primary carers at full pay and three month’s paid parental leave for secondary carers. To help close the superannuation gap for carers, we are also paying superannuation for the entire period of leave in the first 12 months, both paid and unpaid.
By providing paid parental leave, we can support parents with the financial and career security they need at a time when lots of other things in their lives are changing. And we are making it easier for primary carers to come back to work.
As a large and successful business, we are in a fortunate position to offer this kind of benefit to our people, and we are lucky to have a Board that supports taking a progressive stance.
Aurizon is another ASX listed company that recently launched a new parental leave offer. It’s another innovative example of how a business can encourage greater sharing of caring responsibilities.
I’d love nothing more than to see every other ASX listed company offer similar parental schemes. It’s a sound business decision and a great way to drive social change. So, what are you waiting for?