Celebrating Life: why we're introducing equal parental leave for all parents globally

As a father to three wonderful children, I know from personal experience how the birth of a baby is a life-changing moment. In the words of one of our associates, it turns your life upside down, in a good way!  

At Novartis, we want to celebrate with our people on becoming parents and support them during this precious moment of welcoming a new baby into the world.

I am therefore proud to announce that from 1st July 2019, Novartis will begin a phased roll out of its new global parental leave policy, which will offer equal parental leave to all parents through birth, surrogacy [i] or adoption, regardless of gender. 

By 2021, Novartis Group company employees across the world will be able to benefit from a minimum period of 14 weeks paid parental leave for both parents, eligible from their first day of employment.[ii]

While many countries already have generous and equal parental leave policies, it varies hugely around the world. As Novartis continues its cultural transformation, we felt strongly this was an important step to help us build the truly inspired, curious and unbossed culture we want; here’s why:

Celebrating Life!

At Novartis, we celebrate life, in all of its everyday wonder. Our purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives. We also want to recognize and celebrate the moments in life that matter most to our employees. One of these key moments is when they welcome new life into their lives. 

Work-life Balance

We want our people to feel empowered and energized every day to be their best selves and to feel fulfilled both at home and at work. We believe that our new global parental leave policy will enable them to make the right choices for the health and well-being of their families, by offering flexibility and financial stability, so that they can enjoy the moments that matter with their loved ones.

For me, it’s also a matter of supporting our employees through the different stages of their life cycle. Which is why, prior to taking parental leave and upon re-entry to work, Novartis will provide coaching to help our people understand their options and support their reintegration into the workplace, so that they can come back inspired and curious with a renewed sense of purpose and wonder about the amazing work that we do.

Gender Balance

We all recognize that we have more work to do on gender equity in the world and this is a priority for us at Novartis. If we want to achieve gender equity in the workplace and in society, however, we need to empower men to share childcare responsibility.

Paternity pay (where it exists) has traditionally been much lower than maternity pay. This has meant that families lose out financially when fathers choose to take time out. For many families, this has simply not been an option. It is also true that women remain underrepresented in the workplace at senior level and are more likely to do most of the household work.

By offering the same parental leave to all parents, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, we want to encourage a cultural shift, making it OK for fathers and non-birthing partners to embrace an approach to family care that is closer to that traditionally taken by mothers. In so doing, we hope to provide greater choice and opportunity for mothers, too. 

Balance for Better

Achieving balance is fundamental to achieving our purpose of reimagining medicine because it allows us to tap into a broad diversity of experiences and backgrounds, to be constantly open to new ideas and ways of thinking. We celebrate diversity because all of our people are unique. By giving everyone the flexibility and opportunity to contribute and grow, we will inspire greater curiosity and collaboration, and ultimately, greater innovation.

This is the message at the heart of this year’s International Women’s Day campaign #BalanceforBetter:

‘Balance is not a woman’s issue, it’s a business issue…Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive.’ ( IWD 2019)

Social attitudes are changing.  Research shows that fathers increasingly want to spend more time caring for their children.[iii]  This is particularly true for Millennials and Generation Z.

We believe that our investment in an equal global parental leave policy will be more than outweighed by the long-term benefits of higher engagement and productivity through increased loyalty, job satisfaction and greater degrees of in-house knowledge, and the ability to attract top talent. 

Finally, by offering more choice and flexibility to all parents, we want to lead the way in shaping a society where gender balance is the norm, because ultimately ‘balance drives a better working world’.

i. Where permitted, in line with national legislation.

ii. Subject to local labor practices and legislation.

iii. For example, see the UK House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Report Fathers and the Workplace (March 2018)