Better parental leave, but then what?

Welcome to another Flexible Success newsletter. Each edition includes a thought, a quote, a question and an interesting read - all related to flexible work. It's designed to be quick and easy to digest, and to provide you with some food for thought for the week ahead.

A TIP

Parental leave is currently in the spotlight in Australia. Many organisations are making significant changes to their policies to support extended paid leave (up to 26 weeks) for both parents.

This is fabulous news for families, and a great starting point for moving the needle on workplace flexibility for men.

But what happens when the parental leave period is over? Do we then just go back to the status quo of women being able to access flexible work far more readily than men, and continuing to take on the lion's share of caring responsibilities?

It seems very clear that for the equality outcomes of the shared parental leave to be maintained and embedded, we also need to work out how to enable and encourage men to work flexibly across their whole careers.

A QUOTE

'Workplace flexibility is typically accepted as an option for mothers, but when it comes to dads, flexibility is unlikely to be as readily accepted – and in some cases not even considered'
– Dr Ashlee Borgkvist, researcher at UniSA

A QUESTION

What could your workplace do to encourage more men to work flexibly in ways that benefit them and their families?

AN INTERESTING READ

The flexible workplace only helps women when their male colleagues are signed up too

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