Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER July 11, 2016 12 FEATURES CONNECT TO ATLANTIC CANADA'S LEGAL NETWORK Stay connected with the 2016-17 Atlantic Legal Telephone Directory. Order your copy today. Visit www.carswell.com or call 1-800-387-5164 for a 30-day, no risk evaluation New Edition Perfectbound • June 2016 $44.50* • L7798-5929 ISBN • 978-0-7798-5929-0 Multiple copy discounts available *Plus applicable taxes and shipping & handling (Prices subject to change without notice) The 2016-17 Atlantic Legal Telephone Directory connects you to your legal community providing accurate and essential legal contact information in all four Canadian Atlantic Provinces. Each year find new and updated names, mailing addresses, email addresses and phone numbers for lawyers and law offices. Get quick, easy access to: • Law and Barristers' Societies • Courts of Appeal • Federal Court of Canada • Government of Canada departments • Judicial districts and judicial officials • Incorporated Municipalities • Land registration and information services • The Associations of Land Surveyors • Law Foundation • Provincial government departments • Boards and Commissions • Law Related Services, Institutions and Organizations • University law faculties ... and much more. BENEFITS Why it's important to encourage male workers to take parental leave A look at the risky business of 'Dad bias' in the workplace By Michael Marty I t's a scenario that often plays out, with little fanfare — a young father keen to go on paternity leave is "reminded" by his boss that he's leading a big a project so he's "encouraged" to come back to work sooner rather than later. e facts may vary but the result is the same — implicit bias towards dads has become a big reason so many new fathers are still afraid to take time away from work for the birth of a child. From a manager's perspective, there are numbers to hit, and whatever work the new dad isn't doing inevitably lands on some- one else's desk. Six whole weeks? It's not like he's the one giving birth. It makes sense to push back a little, right? Wrong. is approach is fl awed in that it prioritizes short-term need over long-term stability and investment. And that's risky business. Actions and reactions Hardly a week goes by without a fl urry of headlines announcing an employer's plans to expand its parental leave program. ese an- nouncements command so much attention because there's rising demand for parental leave in the United States and Canada alike, yet it falls largely on employers to meet that demand. us, mater- nity and paternity leave policies have become a highly desirable employee benefi t in recent years. At the same time, another sig- nifi cant shift is occurring. Wheth- er by choice or circumstance, families are more equally sharing breadwinning and caregiving re- sponsibilities. More than 90 per cent of fathers and 70 per cent of mothers in the United States work outside the home, according to 2016 data from the Pew Research Centre, so a large majority of par- ents are working, and working longer hours to make ends meet. And then there's the modern dads movement, in which men are seemingly more willing to embrace caregiving roles. In an incredibly telling 2011 statistic in the " e New Dad" series from the Boston College Center for Work and Family at the Boston University School of Social Work, nearly 70 per cent of fathers think caring for their children and pro- viding for them financially are equally important responsibili- ties, while less than fi ve per cent see their role as being purely a fi nancial providers. Responding to trends At the most basic level, there are two ways employers can respond to these related movements, which have the real potential to shape the modern workforce — they can adapt or they can resist. It's becoming clear that com- panies that adapt to the realities of today's workforce have a sig- nifi cant competitive advantage, while those that can't (or won't) change with the times are going to get left behind. Increasingly, that means not only putting programs in place to support working moth- ers, but working fathers as well. Over the past several months, there have been a number of strong examples of business lead- ers, such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and TOMs' CEO Blake Mycoskie, taking paternity leave. And leading employers, such as Etsy and Twitter, have demonstrated support for the role of dads as caregivers by introduc- ing gender-neutral parental leave policies. But for every win for working dads, many more new fathers are taking little or no time off around the birth of a new child. ere is still no defi ned blue- print for men who want to take their paternity leave when their children are born or who want to be involved parents as their kids grow up. Cultural norms change slowly, and gender biases persist in the workplace. Often, this re- sults in men feeling pressured to prioritize work over family in what's tantamount to dad biases. Eighty-nine per cent of fathers said it's important for employers to provide paid paternity leave, according to 2014 Boston College Center for Work and Family. And yet the same research revealed 99 per cent of fathers felt their super- visor expected no change to oc- cur in their working parents after they've become parents. When fathers cut short their paternity leave or feel as though they have to work long into the night, their productivity may not suff er in the short-term. But this type of pressure can breed resent- ment, leading to disengaged em- ployees, burnout and even turn- over issues. It's time for employers to start seeing fathers as they see them- selves — as working caregivers. Because if they don't, they risk pushing away an incredibly im- portant segment of the workforce. Michael Marty is senior vice-president and general manager of Care@Work in New York. For more information, visit www.care.com. Shifting priorities • Fathers prioritize good work-life balance (55 per cent) and a healthy lifestyle for their family (47 per cent) as what is most important. • Even though one in three working fathers spend more than 16 hours during the work week with their children, more than half (57 per cent) don't feel they spend enough time with them. • 87 per cent of working fathers would be more involved with their family's daily routine if their employer offered a more fl exible schedule. • Nearly half of working fathers (48 per cent) feel their employers don't do enough to support working parents, citing the lack of child care assistance (55 per cent) and paid parental leave (50 per cent). • 64 per cent of working fathers feel their company/ colleagues treat moms and dads differently, offering new moms more leniency (50 per cent) and more benefi ts (43 per cent). Source: Care@Work Credit: g-stockstudio (Shutterstock)

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