The third layer of NAWO’s Nine Levers Framework for Gender Balance is all about supporting individuals to successfully integrate their work and personal lives. The three levers in this layer are: (1) Sharing the care; (2) Effective transitions to and from extended leave; and (3) Flexible work.

In this article we explore the current parental leave situation in Australia, share a checklist to help companies in refining their own policies, and suggest additional considerations when working to ensure leave policies are as equitable and inclusive as possible.

What Parental Leave Schemes Do Australian Employees Have Access To?

Australia’s Government-provided Parental Leave Pay (PLP) scheme provides primary caregivers up to 22 weeks of paid leave at the national minimum wage. The leave can be taken flexibly over two years, and partners can also receive 2 weeks of paid leave. In July 2024, an important extension came into place – this benefit now must receive superannuation contributions during the paid leave period (finally!). It also applies to parents who adopt a child under 16 years of age and parents who experience stillbirths or infant deaths. However, the scheme does not currently cover miscarriage, requiring employees to rely on their employer’s compassionate leave or unpaid parental leave under this circumstance – despite the Department of Health publishing a media release in May finding that up to 100,000 Australian women experience a miscarriage every year.

The reality is that many Australians receive a combination of government-funded parental leave entitlements and employer-provided benefits since the government scheme is offered at minimum wage. Given that, in many cases, this may be significantly lower than an employee’s usual salary, the value of their employer’s parental leave benefits becomes crucial. The type and level of support can vary widely depending on the employer. It also becomes crucial for other parental-leave-related support for grievances such as miscarriage and stillbirths.

Certain historically male-oriented operational industries—encompassing construction, manufacturing, energy, resources, product technology, logistics and supply chain—still face unique challenges. Traditionally, operational roles in these fields often require physical presence, set shifts and physically demanding work, making it difficult to implement flexible working arrangements.

This calls for a concerted effort from senior leadership, HR departments and all those dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion within the organisation to ensure that the often challenging balance between operational roles and flexible work arrangements can be achieved. With some creativity, group effort and a commitment to rethinking traditional structures, it is possible to develop innovative solutions that make flexible work arrangements more compatible with operational roles, benefiting both employees and the organisation.

Employer-Provided Parental Leave: A Diverse Patchwork of Support

In contrast to corporate sectors that frequently offer additional parental leave benefits, historically male-oriented sectors tend to lag behind. Jobs in construction, manufacturing and trades are less likely to offer extended leave or salary top-ups beyond the government scheme. Many workers in these roles depend solely on the government’s paid parental leave, which may not be sufficient for low- to mid-income families, particularly when compared to higher-paid roles in other sectors or their normal wage earnings.

These sectors are also less likely to offer generous secondary carer leave and/or gender-neutral parental leave. This generally reinforces the stereotype of women being primary caregivers who will take time off from their careers rather than male partners, perpetuating gender inequality at work and home and leaving behind parents in same-sex partnerships.

WGEA Industry Snapshots demonstrate how operational sectors remain burdened by the ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ carer terms, not making their parental leave accessible to all parents regardless of gender. This, in turn, leads to most parental leave being taken up by women – resulting in women being disadvantaged when it comes to their career progression and falling into unequal caring responsibilities at home.  

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) and the Fair Work Ombudsman recommend taking a gender-neutral approach to leading practice to help close the gender gap and reduce stigma around men taking time off for family responsibilities.  

Essential Checklist: Leading practice parental leave policy

To enable leading practice, NAWO recommends the following when developing or enhancing parental leave policy:                          

 1. Paid Parental Leave Beyond the Government Minimum

  • Offering at least 12 weeks of leave at an average pay rate. Those already at 12 weeks should be considering an increase to 18 weeks or above. 
  • Ensuring people on parental leave are not excluded from annual performance review and salary review cycles. 

 2. Superannuation Contributions

  • Ensuring superannuation is paid during both the paid and unpaid portions of parental leave. Recognising a cap on the super payment on the unpaid portion may be a necessary first step. 

 3. Equal Benefits for All New Parents

  •  Making policies inclusive of all new parents, regardless of gender or family structure. 
  1. Ensure that policies and procedures regarding eligibility, the application process and entitlements are accessible. 
  2. Provide advice, support, and training to all managers on policy provisions and how to implement them effectively and confidently. 
  3. Include questions in employee engagement and experience surveys to understand current policy and practice efficacy and use insights for continuous improvement. 

 4. Pregnancy-Related Bereavement Leave

  • Providing generous leave for circumstances such as miscarriage, stillbirth, or life-threatening conditions during pregnancy. Many companies now extend paid leave for these experiences to four weeks for stillbirth and two weeks for early pregnancy loss. 

 5. Flexibility in Taking Leave

  •   Allowing leave to be taken in blocks over a 12-month period rather than all at once. 

 6. Return-to-Work Support

  •   Offering phased or flexible return options, such as part-time work or altered shifts. 
  1. Ensure that managers maintain regular contact with employees on parental leave, eg, by providing company- and team-based communication updates, planning return-to-work experiences, etc. 
  2. Provide programs that include mentoring and any technical training required that will support the fast-tracking of reintegration. 
  3. Encouraging parents to utilise the keep-in-touch days they are entitled to under the Government scheme and actively identifying opportunities for them to be encouraged to stay in touch, such as town halls, development days and key planning meetings. Where possible, contributing some support for childcare to enable this to occur. 

7. Ongoing Support For All Parents, Not Only In The Early Years 

  • Don’t stop at the early stages of a child’s life – allow flexible start and finish times to allow parents manage school drop-offs/pick-ups, and consider part-time/job-sharing opportunities. 
  • Consider offering onsite childcare facilities or childcare subsidies. 
  • Allow annual leave to accrue during periods of unpaid parental leave. 
  • Continuously work on creating a psychologically safe workplace where everyone can share their leave needs and carer requirements openly. 

 What to avoid when it comes to leave policies

  • Demanding that workers who elect not to return to work from parental leave pay back any portion of their parental leave pay.
  • Forgetting to include parents on leave in any annual salary review and bonus schemes.
  • Failing to support return-to-work schemes.
  • Making parental leave benefits inaccessible to casual or part-time workers (the majority of whom are women).
  • Requiring employees to work at least 12 months before accessing parental leave – this reduces equity in the workplace and fails to recognise life’s unpredictability.
  • Placing your policy where it can’t be found!

Going Beyond Parental Leave: Supporting All Carers

By offering flexible leave, return-to-work support and inclusivity in policies, businesses can make significant strides toward a more equitable and supportive work environment for all – not only parents, but all employees with caring responsibilities. The reality is that seven out of ten carers are women in Australia, so a commitment to gender equity means a broader commitment to supporting caregiving. It also means that three out of ten carers are men (or non-binary), so our policies need to be accessible to people of all genders.

Let’s not forget that parents aren’t the only ones in society who give love, care and support to children and other family members. Grandparents may provide a helping hand with childcare, siblings often offer emotional support and care for younger family members and extended family members or friends step in to assist with school pickups and other daily activities. Families today are wonderfully diverse and caregiving extends far beyond parenting alone.

Caregiving can involve supporting people with special needs, offering emotional support during tough times, or even being the steady presence a family depends on. While supporting parents is a crucial piece of the puzzle, it’s not where the conversation should end. We must remember that all caregivers are fundamental to keeping families and communities thriving. Caregivers, regardless of their role, form the backbone of society, yet historically, their contributions have often been undervalued.

Our policies need to evolve to reflect the diversity and complexity of modern families, recognising and supporting every form of care. Whether it’s grandparents, siblings, uncles and aunties, friends, or extended family, all caregivers deserve the time, flexibility and resources to provide the love and support that families as a whole—need to thrive. No caregivers should be left behind!

Employers can support all employees with caregiving responsibilities by offering a range of flexible and inclusive policies beyond just parental leave. Ensure that your workplace actively encourages and implements an inclusive culture with an understanding and flexibility that values the diverse caregiving responsibilities of all employees, including those who care for family members with disabilities or long-term health conditions. This helps foster a more supportive and productive work environment where employees with caregiving duties can thrive.

Support From The Leadership Level

Great policy is one thing, but leadership that activates this policy is essential and requires communication effort, focus and role-modelling. Personally accessing policies relating to parental and carers leave and demonstrating an effective approach to workplace flexibility in balancing work and caring responsibility are key to leadership activation. Some examples include:

  • ‘Leaving loudly’ and disclosing when attending to a caring responsibility with teams.
  • Consciously keeping those on extended leave ‘in mind’ whilst out of sight. Ensuring they are invited to key events and re-engagement opportunities whilst respecting leave status. Getting a very clear understanding of the individual’s level of interest in staying connected is also very important here.
  • Working collaboratively with those preparing for leave to effectively plan and implement resourcing and enable a decent handover.
  • Having consideration for people’s caring responsibilities when setting team meeting times.
  • Enabling effective hybrid teamwork by ensuring clear principles and team norms are in place around collaborative time vs focused work time.
  • Holding people accountable for outcomes rather than hours worked.

These are just a few examples of everyday inclusive leadership practices that will make a huge difference to those with caring responsibilities in your team.

 

It is promising to report that many NAWO member organisations are reviewing their policies and practices and some are leading the way with generous and inclusive parental leave policies and inclusive cultures for caregiving responsibilities. These offers include extended paid leave, salary top-ups and flexible return-to-work options. They recognise the long-term benefits of investing in their workforce, including higher retention rates, improved morale and greater loyalty resulting in increased productivity and organisational performance. We look forward to showcasing many of these new policies in our next feature article on this topic.

 

More WGEA Insights & Resources to check out: