Paternity leave: The hidden barriers keeping men at work
My job offered 4 months of of paternity leave with pay. And an optional 2 extra months off without pay. So you could think of it as 6 months at 2&#x2F;3rds pay. It didn’t have to be taken at one time either. There was a small restriction that you had to start the leave within 1 year of the baby’s first birthday. The company also offered it for people adopting, so it applied for all people regardless of gender or lifestyle. You could only apply for it 3 times though. So no having 10 kids to escape working. :P<p>I took two months off when our baby was first born. Then I took 4 months off when the baby was about 9 months so we could spend New Years in Japan with my wife’s mother. While abroad on leave the pandemic hit, flights we canceled and we got stranded. Upon returning everyone was working remote so we stayed in Japan for about a year.<p>I’m so grateful for that time. We spent the mornings watching morning kids shows, paying with grandma, going to the park, etc. My daughter speaks Japanese as a first languages and has advanced in so many ways because of that time off.<p>I’ve heard stories of very senior people being pressured to take less time. The logic being: If you’re gone for 6 months and everything functions just fine, are you really that important? My advice from those people was the company puts it there for a reason, take your time, you earned it, everyone is jealous.