Interview article vo.2: Life of Paternity Leave at CircleCI

Hi everyone! Recently, a revision to Japan's act on child care leave that encourages fathers to take paternity leave has been enacted by the Diet in Japan. That means more men will be encouraged to take paternity leave equally as women following their child birth.?

According to The Japan Mainichi News, In fiscal 2019, just 7.48% of eligible men took child care leave, far behind the 83% of women who did. Their leave was also short, with close to 40% taking "five days or less" off work in fiscal 2018. It is clear that in Japan the burden of raising children is skewed toward women.

However at CircleCI, we have already advanced the benefits for men to take paternity leave as an equal opportunity for all employees no matter what gender they are and everyone is very satisfied with the paternity & maternity leave program here at CircleCI globally.?

We caught up with our employees who are currently working in the engineering team living in Japan and described the life of paternity leave at CircleCI. Marek and Hirokuni gave us the keynotes of how the time and current situation seems like during and after paternity leave.?

Introduction

Marek Nowak

(Engineering Manager, 4 years at CircleCI）

Hirokuni Kim

(Staff Engineer in Infrastructure Engineering Team, 6 years at CircleCI)

Please Introduce yourself briefly!

Marek: I’m Marek Nowak, and I work as an Engineering Manager at CircleCI. I’m originally from Poland, but live in Kanagawa Prefecture now. Before CircleCI I’ve been working at a couple of IT companies in Poland, the UK, and Germany, in various engineering and team leadership roles.

Hirokuni: I joined CircleCI 6 years ago as a first employee in Japan. I have experienced Support Engineer, product engineer and business development to launch Japan Office and I am currently working as an Infrastructure Engineer and develop and operate the internal infrastructure.?

When and how long did you take the paternity leave at CircleCI?

Marek: After the birth of our second child last year I took 4 weeks at first, and then 4 weeks of working part-time, 4 hours per day.

Hirokuni: I started my leave from 2020/10 and took two months

What was your turning point of taking paternity leave?

Marek: There wasn’t really a turning point - having my previous work experience in Europe it was an obvious move for me that if we’re having a baby, I’m taking parental leave. Experiencing the joy of being with a newborn, and being able to help my wife exhausted after the birth, are very important to me.?

Hirokuni: This is the third baby I have had since I joined CircleCI. I didn't take any leaves in the first two because we were a small team and busy. Since then, our teams have grown and I could find a room to take the leave.

Was there any hesitation to share about taking paternity leave?

Marek: No, there was nothing to hesitate about. I’ve seen other colleagues take parental leave before me, and knew it’s a common practice at the company. My boss and my teammates are always very supportive, too, and announcing my leave was not a problem.

Hirokuni: Nop. I feel I'm obliged to take it because handling three kids is not an easy task.

How was the reaction from the surrounding?

Marek: Unsurprisingly, very positive. There were offers of help if I needed any, asking about the baby’s name, and early requests for baby photos already!

Hirokuni: Very positive. My teammates and managers encouraged me to take it.

How did you manage your work-tasks while you were on leave?

Marek: A couple of weeks before the due date I created a list of my usual responsibilities and weekly tasks. I consulted with my team and asked each of them to take one or two things off my plate when I’m gone.

I have also created a document, accessible to anyone at the company, outlining the plan for my parental leave, dates, and a clear list of responsibilities (with names of my teammates next to them) while I’m gone. I then set the link to the document as my Slack status for anyone to see.

Hirokuni: My team took care of this. It's also good that we hired a new member during my leave so that my only co-worker in Japan doesn't have to work alone.

How was everything while paternity leave??

Marek: As it is with newborns it was very busy, but a lot of fun, too! I mean, newborn babies are just too cute.

I also had a peace of mind knowing that the team is taking care of things while I’m gone.

Hirokuni: It was great. I could take a lot of rest.

Any good memories you have while on leave?

Marek: The prevailing feeling was that of a big relief that things went rather smoothly, the baby is with us, and my wife is recovering - as during the pandemic there are so many dangers, and nothing can be taken for granted.

Hirokuni: Comparing with the time I had second baby, I could make my living with a plenty of time. It is not related to paternity leave directly but I had a hectic schedule with writing a book of CircleCI beforehand so paternity was a great time to rest.??

Were there any concerns about moving back to work?

Marek: No, I didn’t have any concerns - on the contrary; I trust my boss and my team, and I was looking forward to learning what developments happened while I was gone.

Hirokuni: I didn't have any concerns.

Are there any changes you have before and after paternity leave?

Marek: I have learned how much I can delegate to the team, and I delegate more now whenever I get busy with some other responsibilities.

Hirokuni: Not really.

Any last comments about paternity leave at CircleCI?

Marek : I really appreciate the fact that CircleCI has the same rules for parental leave for all our global employees, regardless of their location.

Hirokuni: Taking paternity leave is a very natural choice now in CircleCI. When I joined CircleCI, it was a tiny team and everybody was busy with everything. I'm very proud that CircleCI grew so much that it gives us headroom for taking rest in the special occasion of life.

How were your thoughts? I hope you got the grasp of our great benefit and feel a sense of good work-life-balance. Please comment below for more discussion! Happy Reading!