Let's ban maternity and paternity leave forever

If we want more gender equality in the workplace, we need to create better paid leave policies for everyone. The topic of paid parental leave has become increasingly important as organisations are seeking to increase the number of women at all levels in their organisation.  However, as many organisations are finding out the hard way, this will mean taking a hard look at their paid parental leave policies. And not just for women, but for men too.

Perhaps the first step is to stop separating maternity leave, from paternity leave, from adoptive parental leave, and harmonize one parental leave for all.

A BCG study has shown that employers see a solid business case for offering paid leave such as improved retention and ability to attract talent.  With more dual career households and females as primary breadwinners, both parents are increasingly involved in caregiving.

Earlier this year Chris Nassetta, the President and CEO of Hilton, wrote about why paid family leave is good for business.  Over two years ago, Hilton made updates to their paid family leave benefits so that all employees, salaried and hourly, had access to paid leave, as well as assistance with adoption expenses.  Nassetta also stated that spending time with family should not be a luxury allowed only to certain industries, professions or types of employees.