#16 What Men Gain From a Parental Leave

Fish in the Boardroom

With Dario Cristiano

This episode is brought to you in cooperation with Advance.

Understanding that equality in the workplace starts at home, several companies offer parental leave programs for men that go beyond the current legal requirements of two weeks. Sadly though, such offers are often not used by men for fear of the professional consequences to their careers.

Yet, studies have shown that when fathers take paternity leave, mothers return to work more easily, female employment is higher, and the earning gap between men and women is lower.

And, as the French INSEE Institute analyzed, although men in 2010 spend more time with their children, so do women. Leading to inequalities that remain largely the same: and women still spending twice as much time on household chores and care activities compared to men.

P&G, the company behind brands like Pampers, Ariel, Gillette, or Oral-B, with Headquarters in Geneva,created the #Sharethecare program to address just that and has heavily invested in encouraging their employees to take advantage of this program. Dario Cristiano, the Site HR Director at the Geneva Headquarter of P&G, was one of the first to take advantage of this program that allows new fathers or domestic partners in same-sex couples, 8-week fully paid leave within the first 18 months of the child being born or adopted.

In my conversation with him, he talks about what it meant for him as well as what fears he had and how he overcame them.

“I was the first person in my whole family, my circle of friends, even at P&G I was one of the first to take [the parental leave]. It came with a lot of unknowns about what it would mean for me. But after I convinced myself, I had the feeling I had to convince everyone else around me, my manager, my colleague that it was the right thing for me.”

What you will learn

· How taking parental leave can serve you in a professional setting by teaching you new skills, such as resilience, leading in uncertainty, problem-solving, patience, foresight, …

· About the four key moments before and after the parental leave: The Decision-Making, The Request, The Leave, The Return to Work

· Obvious things are underestimated in their impact

Tips

· Listen more, be open to learn

· Don’t let society dictate what is right for you

· Get educated about Dominant Culture, Unconscious Bias, Privilege (see resources below)

Resources

About P&G and their #Sharethecare Program:

· P&G - Shifting Cultural Norms - Gender Equality Begins at Home - We advance Cas Study

Other resources to continue the Equality & Inclusion journey learning on Dominant Culture, Unconscious Bias, Privilege

· Blind Spot by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald

· Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky

· Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

· What Works by Iris Bohnet

Further resources can be found on the Fish in the Boardroom website

Find Dario online

LinkedIn

Procter & Gamble

Biography

Dario Cristiano joined Procter & Gamble 12 years ago in his Home Country, Italy. Over those years, he has been working in Italy and Switzerland in a variety of roles in the Human Resources function. Dario is currently Human Resources Director for Geneva Business Center and is a committed partner on Equality & Inclusion activities at P&G.