Fathers in supply chain: Four trailblazers advocate for equal parenting opportunities

In 2024, a panel discussion on balancing fatherhood and a career in supply chain shouldn't feel revolutionary, but it did. Here’s why, and why it should matter to everyone.?

The World Economic Forum has linked 80% of the gender pay gap to the motherhood penalty: “the systematic disadvantage that women encounter in the workplace when they become mothers”. How much is this unacceptable fact impacted by the male parenting opportunity and experience? Probably more than you think.?

Could we, by supporting equal parental leave and equal caring responsibility between the genders, give fathers the opportunity to be more involved in parenting without negatively impacting their career prospects AND eliminate the motherhood penalty and significantly reduce the gender pay gap at the same time???

It’s a prospect not as revolutionary as it might seem, as discussed on our panel discussion last month by four parents, all fathers, who shared their experiences and how they’re championing equality in parenting.???

On the panel we welcomed:?

• Oliver de Abreu Küffner, Sr Manager Global SCM DTC, adidas (Brazilian and living in Germany)?

• Paolo Mammarella, Senior Manager, Supply Planning, Ecolab (Italian and living in Spain)?

• James Smith, Advanced Planning System Master Data Manager, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (British and living in the Netherlands)?

• Josh Wadley, Senior Manager Retail Supply Chain, adidas (US)?

Here are some of the key insights from our panellists.?

Creating a culture to support fathers (and mothers)?

The advice from our panel falls into two categories:?

1) Advice to the (prospective) father?

• State your views on work/life balance and your requirement for flexible working when applying for a job or with your line manager when you know you’re having a baby.?
• Manage expectations of all colleagues by communicating clearly about your childcare constraints and block out time in your diary for your caring responsibilities.?

2) Advice to the manager/organisation?

• Parental leave provides an opportunity to test succession planning. Ready the person you want to take over during parental leave and prepare them for career progression.?
• Present your organisation’s offering on parental leave and parental support in seminars.?
• Provide a crèche/nursery/kindergarten at your offices.?
• If you truly want to create a culture to support parents, ensure your senior leadership walks the talk and takes their full entitlement to parental leave and visibly care for their children e.g., leave work early to collect their children from school.?

Juggling career and fatherhood?

Our panel’s advice on juggling a career and fatherhood is again, gender neutral and wonderfully pragmatic:?

• Make a career plan to take into account the different stages of your children’s lives. For example, don't take on a role that requires you to run a manufacturing plant or travel three weeks a month when you have a baby, and you need to be most present and flexible. It does restrict your career but it's a trade-off: career or time with your children.?

• Talk with your partner (if you have one) and co-manage your careers. One partner may take on additional responsibility to support the other with a new opportunity.?

• Interview new employers about their attitudes towards working fathers.?

• Look at the cultural norms towards fathers at a company and the country. Large companies are more likely to have the resources to be supportive of parental leave than SMEs.?

• If possible, have grandparents living locally to provide extra support.?

When I called the panellists ‘trailblazers’, they all said that they didn’t deserve the title. However, Paolo was the first man in his organisation to make use of new Spanish legislation offering equal parental leave. James took on the majority of childcare to support his wife when her career took off. Oliver is one of the few men in Germany taking equal parental leave with his partner. Josh has created a team culture to support parents and where flexible working is the norm.??

As we move towards parental equality in childcare, the motherhood penalty will become the parenthood penalty and the gender pay gap could potentially morph into a parent pay gap. If all genders are impacted equally, it raises the interesting question of whether there should be this financial penalty to having children (especially given how much it costs to have one anyway).??

In the meantime, we are still a long way from seeing cultures and legislation that supports equality in parenting. This needs to change. While we wait for governments to legislate for equal parental leave, organisations must take the lead and offer this benefit and create cultures where equal parenting is supported. We also need to see more fathers "parenting out loud".

Because when we do, #EveryoneWins?

This edition of the Supply Chain 50/50 newsletter was written by Melanie Salter, Director of Supply Chain Research at boom! Global Network.

Watch the replay of the panel discussion: Balancing Family & a Career in Supply Chain: The Male Perspective