Why both parents benefit when dads take leave

“You’ve got to be on the ball,” Andrew Campbell laughs, recalling paid parental leave with baby Lachlan. 

“It’s damn hard,” Edward Roberts agrees, reflecting on looking after baby Clementine.  

Clinton Fraser, meanwhile, reckons he will look back at his remaining eight weeks of paid parental leave, starting in April, “quite fondly”. 

These Ai Group fathers are a growing number of men seizing the opportunity to take generous gender-neutral or “shared-care” paid parental leave. 

And they couldn’t recommend it more highly. 

For Andrew, Senior Membership Executive, Member Engagement, taking paid parental leave allowed his teacher wife, Marta, to accept a promotion to assistant principal. 

“For me, it gave me dedicated, unfractured time with my little boy,” Andrew says. 

“My parental leave came when Lachlan was 10 months old, so he was already quite developed. It was a really enjoyable time to take parental leave as opposed to taking it all right at the beginning.” 

The experience was quite the eye-opener. 

“Spending so much time with him, I got to see him develop every day,” Andrew says. 

“It’s something I appreciate even more with hindsight. It was such a beautiful, fun age. It also gave me deeper understanding of the home admin that’s involved in being the primary carer. 

“When Marta was on maternity leave with Lachlan, I was working from home. I’d help where I could, but I wouldn’t 100% tune into all the things that needed doing because I was doing my job as well. So, when you do that switch, you realise the home admin list gets a whole lot longer when a child enters the scene. There’s constant prep and if you take your eye off the ball, there’s a lot of work to catch up on. Meal planning/freezing, washing, booking vaccines. Are there any scheduled doctor visits? Do any more appointments need to be made? Will he (and we) sleep through tonight? (Spoiler alert; no. Not once.) 

“It gave me such an appreciation for what else goes on, which I’m sure my wife appreciates. It gave us a more holistic mindset towards raising him . . . we're a better team for it.” 

If the opportunity for parental leave is there, grab it, says Andrew. 

“It gives the other parent the bandwidth and flexibility to navigate their career,” he said. 

“Marta and I were both really happy that the opportunity for promotion was there, and she could take it on. 

“You both want fulfilment and happiness from what you do. You don’t want to feel stuck. You both benefit when the partner takes parental leave.” 

Ai Group’s Culture and Capability Lead - People & Culture Diana Zweig said The Australian Industry Group was committed to encouraging and normalising the practice of fathers and partners taking parental leave. 

“There’s still a mountain of stigma about men taking leave,” Ms Zweig said. 

“In fact, in some workplaces, men who take leave are just as penalised as the women who take leave. So, we want to move away from that. It’s so archaic.  

“We want a society that is family friendly. In most cases, there are two parents.  

“For us, taking the gender out of leave and allowing it to be at a time that works for the parent benefits society and puts us, as an employer, in a desirable position. 

“You’re actually lagging behind as an employer of choice if you don’t start moving on some of these things. They are becoming non-negotiable for candidates going into a role. Employers are highlighting themselves in a negative way if these things aren’t there. 

“Along with paying superannuation on paid and unpaid parental leave up to 12 months, we are doing everything we can to try and neutralise the negative impact of going back to work after having a baby. For every employer making those steps forward, we all move forward as a society.” 

Ai Group’s Edward Roberts, PMO Lead – Business Services, was working at Deloitte when he took paid parental leave part-time over six months, working three days a week. 

“My wife Lucille went back to work, and I started parental leave when our daughter was nine months old,” Edward said. 

“The biggest benefit is that you get to hang out with your children and get paid for it. How good is that?  

“I thought it was phenomenal but damn hard, though. It was tough.  

“Our daughter decided she didn’t want to sleep during the day. She was meant to have two sleeps a day and I was lucky if she had half an hour in a day. I reckon I spent a good chunk of most afternoons trying to get her to sleep. It just never happened. I think she gave me one 45-minute nap. I used to go out all morning and try to tire her out at the park, go out for coffees but I only tired myself out, really.” 

Edward regarded the opportunity as a “very generous reward” from his employer. 

“It's a two-way street,” he added. 

“You give a big part of yourself to your employer. In a way, it felt like it was a reward for being loyal to them, that they were being loyal to me. 

“Financially, I don’t think it would have been possible to have taken so much time if it wasn’t paid.” 

Paid leave “really took the pressure off” Lucille when she returned to work as an occupational therapist. 

“I took over most of the domestic duties,” Edward said. 

“I would do the cooking, shopping, washing. It was a lot easier for her to focus on work because most young kids don’t sleep well at night. We were still in a bit of a fog at that stage but anything that could take the pressure off that aspect of being a parent was a benefit.” 

Ai Group’s Publications Manager Clinton Fraser can’t wait for his turn in April. 

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. 

“It’s brilliant. It’s good working for someone who does this. It’s a modern approach.” 

During Clinton’s paid leave, wife Kate will return to her job as a town planning manager three days a week.  

“She’s already joking about what meals she wants me to cook,” Clinton laughed. 

“‘Here’s your list of things you’re going to have to do every day.’” 

Swimming lessons, rhyme time at the local library and visiting grandparents are some of the experiences Clinton is looking forward to with baby Maggie. 

He said it was important for men to take paid parental leave. 

“They have to,” he said. 

“It’s really important. It’s a changing world and changing for the better. You read about studies showing that women do most of the housework and cooking. This is established during the parental leave period because women are at home and then it just carries on.  

“It’s good to be able to experience not only that time with your child but to take on an equal share of those household duties. 

“I imagine I will look back at these eight weeks quite fondly.” 

According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), the uptake of parental leave by fathers and partners in Australia remains low. 

However, Ai Group’s National Manager - Workplace Relations Policy Nicola Street said women whose partners took parental leave generally experienced better career progression. 

“Both domestic and international research has shown that a gender-neutral or shared-care model for parental leave leads to greater and sustained workforce participation levels for women, which is positive for women’s economic wellbeing – particularly later in life,” Ms Street said. 

“Businesses also benefit from more women participating in the workforce at a level commensurate with their skill, experience and qualifications.”  

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