MG 204

INDIVDUA
L PROJECT
2019
NAME: SONAM SONIKA

STUDENT ID: S11145116

DECLARATION
I Sonam Sonika, hereby state that this project is my original piece of research. The research
work which is carried out and the details given in this assignment have been duly
acknowledged. I also declare that this individual research project has been prepared entirely by
me with the help of other basis and I have clearly acknowledged all the other sources. This
assignment do not have any plagiarism.

………………..
Sonam Sonika

TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGE NUMBER

INTRODUCTION 1

METHODOLOGY 2

IMPACTS 3

ANAYSIS 4

RECOMMENDATION 5

CONCLUSION 6

REFERNCE 7

INTRODUCTION
Paternity leave is a certain number of days for instance one or two following or continuous weeks which
are given to the newly fathers or spouses to take off from work to care for their new baby or child. The
employees are entitled to receive pay or wages during paternity leave depends on the terms of your
contract of employment. In adoption cases the relevant parent comprises of the selected parent in cases of
a same sex married couples or the spouses of the mother of adopting child or single adopter if male.

Furthermore, a one or two weeks of leave is given as a paternity leave from work or organization
to all employees also including the new or casual staffs, irrespective of the length of time the
employee has been working for the company or the number of total hours the employee work the
employee works per week. If the employee have another child which is born or adopted at the
exact time, for example, twins are born then still the employees are only permitted for a single
period of one or two weeks of this paternity leave.

Moreover, in Fiji paternity leave was introduced from 1st January 2019 under the Employment
Relations Act 2018, this was decided in the 2018/2019 national budget. The worker will receive
a Family Care Leave 5 working days and fathers are entitled for a paid five working days leave
which can be taken either 3 months before the child is born or 3 months after the child is born.
The leave is also applicable to those employees who have worked for 3 months or more than 3
months of continuous service in the company. 

The purpose of introducing the 5 days paid leave to the fathers so that the father can spend
quality time with the new born child. Through this leave, the father can also provide care and
support the family and this also encourages a balance between work and family life. Paid
parental leave will also help in the income of the household.

METHODOLOGY
Paternity leave is a few days leave given to an employee who became a father recently. This is a
paid of 5 days in Fiji. There are certain rules for taking this leave such as the staff must have
worked in the company for at least 3 months and the employee should either take 3 months
before or 3 months after a child a born or at the time the child is born.

In doing this assignment the research work which was done from were as follows:

Websites

1. What is paternity leave

2. Paternity leave in Fiji
3. The rules and regulations of this leave in Fiji
4. The impact on employees, organization and stakeholders.

Questionnaire

8 questionnaires were distributed to the staffs of an organization to carry out the research and
find out more on what the peoples feedback is on this newly introduced paternity leave.

IMPACTS
Paternity leave can have both positive and negative impact on the employees, organization and
stakeholders. Since these three are inter-related and affects each other.

Impacts of paternity leave on employees are that the employees are able to spend time with their
newly born child. Last year this same time when a child was born the working mothers were only
entitle of receiving a maternity leave of 84 days whereas today when a child is born both the
working parents are given leave the mother of the child is given a 98 days maternity leave and
the father of the child is given a 5 days paid paternity leave. This paternity leave also helps in
spending time with the family and giving moral support especially to the mother of the newly
born child.

Moreover, the productivity and performance of the employees will not be affected since the
employees do not have to worry about the work and family at once. When the paternity leave
was in enforced, the employees had the come to work but physically and mentally their minds
were with their family and the new born child which makes it hard for the employee to focus at
work. Now the employees with new born child do not have to worry about work for at least 5
days and can be with their family.

However, there is a negative impact on the other employees because they have an increased
workload since the employees with the same department as the employees on paternal leave is
have to do the job for two people at the same time. For the five days the other staffs have to carry
out the task of someone else and this can also sometimes affect the other employees work.

Furthermore, the impact of paternity leave on the organization is that the company has to pay the
employee even though not at work. This from the company point of view increases the cost since
the company has to pay for a employee who is not at work for 5 working days whereas before
there was not cost as such. The other negative impact of the company is that the company has to
arrange staffs to carry out the tasks done by the employee on parental leave.

However, the positive impact of this parental leave for the organization is that the organization
can also support the employees by giving them a 5 days paid leave. The organization supports
the employees by helping the employees spend time with their family and the new born child and
also helps the income of the family since the 5 days leave id paid.

As for stakeholders, the impact on the family is that the father on the child can be at home to
help the mother is taking care newly born child and help in the income for the family. However,
if the employees have customers then the company might lose the customers since the staff that
they prefer is not there at their service.

ANALYSIS
 YES NO
Do you support the paternity leave in Fiji? 80% 20%

Is this parental leave helpful for the employees and family? 98% 2%

Is the company affected by this leave? 5% 95%

Is 5 days leave enough for the new fathers? 50% 50%

Does this leave increase the workload on other staffs? 85% 15%

From the questionnaires prepared and the people interviewed, the above table shows the answers
from the people interviewed. Many people are in support of the paternity leave while few are not.
Almost all the employees agree that this leave is helpful for the family and employees. The
managers say that the company is affected by the leave. 50% people interviewed are happy with
the number of days allocated for the paternity leave while the 50% are not. Some people believe
that the workload is increased while some say that they do not see much difference.

RECOMMEDATIONS
The employees should be given two week paternity leave rather than 5 days leave. When
compared to other countries like Kenya and Australia employees who receive 2 weeks of leave
so that the employees are able to spend time more with their newly born child and the help
mother. In Fiji a newly became father is only entitle to receive a 5 days working leave and the
leave finishes in just the celebration of the new bon child and less time to spend with the baby.

Furthermore, another recommendation can be that if there is a two week paternity leave given
then the first half of the leave if fully paid while the half of the leave is partially paid for instance
80%. For example Belgium is paying 100% for the first 3 days while 82% of the rest of the days
of the leave. Similarly Norway pays 100% - 80%. This will not increase more cost for the
company and the employees will also benefit.

Moreover, if there is a rule that the staffs who are going on the paternity leave have to inform
one week prior so that that managers can plan and arrange on how the things will work out if the
employees goes on the paternity leave. For example which employees will do the task for the one
going on the parental leave? That is how prior proper planning can be helpful for the staffs.

The current paternity leave policy is that the staff can take this leave 3 months before and 3
months after the child is born. It can be recommended that instead of 3 months it should be 6
months before and 6 months after the child is born so that the employees can take the leave after
some time maybe when the mother returns back to work then the father can be there with the
child for at least 5 days.

Furthermore, another policy is that an employee who wants to take this paternity leave has to be
working in the company for at least 3 months which can be a bit hard for those employees who
have joined a company recently and wants to take the leave. If this policy is removed then it can
be good for those who are really have to take the leave after the child is born.

CONCLUSION
Finally, it can be said that paternity leave is a certain day’s leave given to the father of the newly
born child or the partners. In Fiji there is a 5 days leave given to those employees who became
fathers recently. This is a paid leave and the employee can take the leave 3 months before or 3
months after the child is born but the employee should be a minimum of 3 months old staff. The
impact the paternity leave on employees are that they can spend more time with the new born
child the help the mother of the child in taking care of their newly born child. There can is an
increased workload on other employee if an employee is given paternity leave, the organizations
cost increases when it has to pay the paternity leave for an employee, the other stakeholders are
affected such as customers while the family benefits from this paternal leave. The
recommendations can be increasing the paternity leave from 5 days to 2 weeks and paying 100%
for the first week while 80% for the second week. Employees should inform the managers one
week before going on the leave for that the manager can arrange the employees who will carry
out the tasks of that employee. The policy of taking leave 3 months before or after a child is born
is be increased to 6 months and the policy of an employee having worked for a company for a
minimum of 3 months should be removed.

REFERNCE
https://www.fijitimes.com/2018-19-budget-paternity-leave-for-fathers/

https://fijisun.com.fj/2018/06/29/budget-2018-98-days-maternity-leave-5-days-
paternity-leave-and-5-days-family-care-leave/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_leave

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1806

https://www.pressreader.com/fiji/fiji-sun/20181231/282346860933912