New dads get less paternity leave than new moms

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Unequal leave facilities for men and women in organisations.

Organisations have different policies regarding the paid leaves offered to employees. While the focus is to improve the paid leave policies to help the employees, these leaves are not equal for men and women.

A 2017 Paid Leave Practices Survey by Bloomberg BNA, surveyed 850 HR professionals in the US, and their organisations’ policies and practices on paid leaves, such as sick leave, family leave, other types of leave, leave administration and satisfaction in the US.

The survey found that more companies are now focusing on family leaves, and the overall availability of paternity leave has increased. However, the leaves given to new dads continue to lag behind the leaves given to moms, with respect to the availability and duration of paid time off.

It was found that organisations with traditional leave plans which separate annual leave/vacation leave and sick leave, give 26 paid days off to its employees, on an average. On the other hand, the organisations with PTO (Paid Time Off) systems, which consist of vacation, personal and sick leaves, all in one bank, give, on an average, only 17 paid days off.

The survey revealed that organisations offer a median of six weeks paid time off and up to 12 weeks unpaid, for new mothers. Under the traditional leave system, employees get an average of eight paid weeks and in the PTO (Paid Time Off) system, employees get an average of six weeks.

As per the survey results, paid leaves for new fathers lags behind paid leaves for new mothers, with a median of only four weeks paid and up to 12 weeks unpaid.

While these leave policies are important, it is equally important to know whether they are working for their employees. 70 per cent of the HR professionals surveyed think that their leave plans serve their workforce well.

Some organisations claim to have an unlimited leave policy to attract top talent, but the survey found that only one per cent of the organisations provide unlimited leave to all or most of their employees.

 

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