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Paternity Leave as a Human Resources Problem

The number of women in the workforce has increased over the years, but gender

differences seen in businesses are much more than that. Despite steps in the right direction,

there are still persistent, deep-rooted gender roles that society has to work to overcome. The

sociocultural emphasis on women as caring mothers and men as breadwinners is clear in

businesses’ policies on maternity and paternity leave. Paternity leave is an increasingly

important human resources issue for businesses for many reasons. First, there is a developing

social trend in family dynamics where more and more fathers want to stay home with their

children. Although paternity leave costs companies, as they are paying employees who are

not providing their skills on the job, studies have demonstrated that it produces happier and

more productive employees. However, work discrimination and gender biases are keeping

paternity leave from becoming as popular as it could be.

Sociocultural Influences in Paternity Leave – the “Flexibility Stigma”

According to conventional social norms, the relationship between parenting and

careers is simple: the mother will take off to raise the child, while the man is earning money

for the family. For women, raising a child and being with them during the first formative

weeks is the best way to begin motherhood. Meanwhile, society tells us that to be a good

father, one must be a good provider (Williams, 39). The “breadwinner ideal” is perpetuated

through media – depicting fathers coming home with a briefcase and suit, while the mother

has been cooking dinner for the children. Just this past baseball season,
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a Kansas City Royals player was criticized online because his baby was due during the

World Series, and he had notified his team that he would spend a few days visiting his wife

and newborn baby. When men take time off of work for their family and are criticized for it,

this is referred to as a non-conforming gender bias, since popular norms dictate that women

are to be home with children, not men.

Current paternity leave practices reflect this gender bias. Although the Family and

Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires businesses with more than 50 employees to provide at

least 12 weeks of unpaid leave to take care of a newborn, it does not require paid leave. Only

14% of companies offer paid paternity leave. The bigger problem, however, is that in these

companies, only 12% of fathers took paid paternal leave when it was offered compared with

69% of mothers (Hall). Most men only take one or two weeks of leave, and according to a

Boston College study, 40% of men felt pressured to return to work earlier than required. This

is where sociologists and human resource experts develop the “flexibility stigma” – a

gendered phenomenon that puts men in the “heroic” activity of working long hours, and

women in the “caregiving” position of mothers at home. Many men cite this flexibility

stigma as their reasoning for not wanting to take paternity leave. They worry that upon

returning to work, they will have to face the consequences of this stigma – workplace

harassment, being less eligible for rewards, and losing job skills. In a study of managers in

public service, fathers who took paternity leave to care for their children suffered high rates

of masculinity harassment (i.e., being teased for lacking masculinity and possessing

femininity) (Blair-Loy, 227).

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These negative consequences are what need to change in the realm of paternity leave,

as there are many clear benefits of offering employees time off. When a father stays home

with his child, he is more likely to bond with the child and participate in vital childcare

responsibilities such as playing, feeding, and changing. In a long-term scope, children whose

fathers had taken time off showed higher learning abilities and performance in school

(Economist). Finally, paternity leave shows an ultimate benefit to the workforce, and is

actually worth more than it costs. Studies show that men who come back from paternity leave

are shown to be more productive and happier. Additionally, mothers of children whose

fathers took time off are more likely to return to the workforce sooner, since the

responsibility of childcare is being shared more equally. This lessens the risk that women

who are gone from work on maternity leave will lose skills and experience. Many companies

are choosing to change their paternity policies because gains from paternity leave programs

benefit not only father and child, but workforce as a whole.

Current Trends in Paternity Leave

Offering quality paternity leave packages is a fairly new practice, and is more common in

some industries than others. Companies that offer new fathers paid leave, sometimes with

additional luxury benefits, are often found in technology, finance, and other wealthy white-

collar businesses. These companies offer a variety of options for fathers desiring to take leave

for their children, with leaves ranging from 4 weeks to Netflix’s “unlimited” leave. Google

offers child care centers on its campuses, gives out stipends for “baby bonding”, and offers

parents consultations to figure out day-care options. Facebook gives new parents $4,000 to

spend on the children, and the opportunity to work on projects from home. For these companies,
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and others with strong paternity leave options, this is a selling point for them when it comes to

recruiting. Studies have shown that businesses that present themselves as “family-friendly”

attract more applicants, and result in happier employees (Rudman, 323). Additionally, there are

other trends to explain the increase in the desire of paternity leave options. Today, there are

more occurrences of single-father or homosexual partner households with no mother figure. In

these scenarios, the typical gender norm of maternity leave does not provide care for the child.

Ensuring Progress: Best Practices

Looking forward, it is important that businesses and their human resources departments

take paternity leave seriously. There are several key ways that human resources departments can

work to maximize the desired results of their paternity leave programs. First, employers and

managers need to realize that at the heart of it, denying paternity leave is a discrimination issue.

Sex is one of the “Big 5” rights protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is a

federal law that prohibits discriminating based off of things such as sex. According to Title VII,

although employers do not have to offer as much leave for fathers since they are not doing the

physical work of giving birth, they do need to offer equal time for “bonding with the child”.

Paternity leave is a reasonable request for a company to accommodate and offer their employees.

However, the responsibility of an employer is more than simply having a paternity leave package

available for employees. The most reasonable way to maximize benefits of paternity leave is to

adapt to culture, and fight gender biases. Businesses need to work to make their paternity leave

packages available, well known and well explained to all employees. Additionally, by being

clear about the benefits of paternity leave, managers can help to fight the flexibility stigma in the
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workplace. Companies can also offer additional programs to make the transition easier and lessen

the likelihood of workplace bias. For example, some companies have instilled family mentor

programs that talk with fathers before their leaves about working options, what they expect from

their employer, and their transition back to work after they return. Managers can help create the

best paternity leave program by leading by example, as well. If employees see managers and top

employees take advantage of paternity leave, they see that they too are able to manage work and

family life. Managers additionally must make sure to adjust their expectations for those fathers

taking paternity leave versus other males in the company. It is unfair to compare their

performance to each other right after a father returns from paternity leave, for example. By

implementing these best practice suggestions into their human resources programs, companies

can ensure that paternity leave is a worthwhile, beneficial, and cost-efficient plan.
 Works Cited

Chanen, Jill Schachner. “Daddy's Home: Paternity Leave Is Becoming a Viable Option for
New Fathers”. ABA Journal 86.11 (2000): 90–91. Web. 11 Nov 2015.

Coltrane, S., Miller, E. C., DeHaan, T. and Stewart, L., “Fathers and the Flexibility Stigma.
Journal of Social Issues, 69: (2013): 279–302.

Economist.com. "The Benefits of Paternity Leave." The Economist. The Economist

Newspaper, 14 May 2015. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

Hall, Jason. "Why Men Don't Take Paternity Leave." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 14 June
2013. Web. 11 Nov. 2015

Miller, Claire Cain. "Paternity Leave: The Rewards and the Remaining Stigma." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 08 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

Otani, Akane. "The 10 U.S. Companies With the Best Paternity Leave
Benefits." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 30 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

Rudman, Laurie A., and Kris Mescher. "Penalizing Men Who Request a Family Leave: Is
Flexibility Stigma a Femininity Stigma?" Journal of Social Issues 69.2 (2013): 322-40.

Williams, Joan C., Mary Blair-Loy, and Jennifer L. Berdahl. "Cultural Schemas, Social
Class, and the Flexibility Stigma." Journal of Social Issues 69.2 (2013): 209-34.
The Flexibility Stigma and Paternity Leave Trends

Kate Moore

Management 4020

11/10/2015