Shared parental leave: addressing barriers to equality in our business

I am proud to say that all 22,000 Haleon employees will soon be entitled to 26 weeks of fully paid parental leave, following the arrival of a child into their lives. This policy will cover maternity, paternity, adoption and surrogacy, no matter where they are based around the world. It is a commitment to give equal opportunities to everyone so that they focus on raising their children, in the knowledge their Haleon careers can continue to flourish.

I remember quite well the frustration of making the decision to attend a school event or a family milestone versus joining that end of day meeting. Whilst my years of managing childcare are behind me, the working world still presents challenges for parents which must be addressed through new ways of working.

Sadly, these parental challenges go beyond the logistics of juggling work alongside early child-care. Factors such as inadequate parental leave can compromise financial and career prospects. Research has shown that inflexible family policies create a domino effect that directly impact employees on a systemic level, contributing to greater issues such as the motherhood penalty, the gender pay gap and unequal division of labour within the family.

Looking at society, the role of a parent is often downplayed to the point where it is a common belief that a woman or single parent can take on most, if not all the responsibility. COVID-19 exposed the complexities of childcare and the inadequacy of parental leave as we saw women spend more time looking after children than ever. On average women spent 8 hours during the weekday on childcare; totalling to that of a second full-time job. The domestic responsibilities that pile up for parents can often go unaccounted for, however a labour of love is still labour; this labour should be shared.

It’s not that men are unwilling to take on their fair share, in fact, 73% of fathers would love to have more flexibility at work in order to spend more time with their children. The lack of inflexible policies combined with cultural stigmas around taking time off work for family, means that men are just as concerned about missing professional opportunities as women are.

Because of these traditional norms, mothers spend more time looking after their family rather than progressing in their careers. We see the long-term impact of this labour divide reflected in income differences between mothers with two kids compared to childless women who earn 13% more. Unsurprisingly, some studies have even shown that this ‘motherhood penalty’ makes up 80% of the gender pay gap.

If we truly want to support women and make meaningful steps towards closing the gender pay gap, we need to fully support the family unit by alleviating the traditional maternal burden in order for women’s careers to flourish. Policies such as our shared parental leave ensure Haleon is a modern and accommodating workplace that will empower people to bring their full selves to work without the fear of missing out on opportunities, both in their family and professional lives. This policy is amongst the most generous anywhere in the world and I am doubly proud of both this being one of our first offering as a UK headquartered company as well as the boldness of our HR team that devised this offering and brought it to fruition.

We hope this policy sends a clear signal that we intend to build a company where you can develop your career in a flexible way and highlight our ambition of creating a diverse workforce. ?From my personal experience, as I network with talent interested in joining Haleon, I find they bring this up as a policy that has attracted their attention.?That tells me we are on to something that truly resonates with people.

As I think about the future of DE&I at Haleon, our plans and stance on Diversity and Inclusion are very clear, but we really want to bring equity into the forefront. Which is why it was crucial that this policy is open to all employees globally, regardless of gender or sexuality and covers biological birth, surrogacy and adoption. Family demands now come in all different shapes and forms, we wanted to ensure that if our employees wanted to expand their family, they have the same provisions and protections as others.

I’m thrilled to say that the feedback from our team has been overwhelmingly positive. Our people view this news as being representative of the kind of company they want to be associated with which has been incredibly encouraging. I look forward to seeing our teams begin to take advantage of the plan once it has been implemented.