A CEO and COO of a software company took leave at the same time to help drive home the benefits to their employees; new research backs them up
By Sue Shellenbarger May 27, 2019 5:30 a.m. ET Ben Congleton says disconnecting from his job as a CEO was sometimes hard during his paternity leave with daughters Nora, 21 months, left, and Hannah, 4 months. Photo: Angela DeCenzo for The Wall Street Journal More new fathers are getting a taste of the pressures that working mothers have faced for decades.
This comes after a 2016 study of paternity leave in 11 nations showing that extending a father’s leave to one month or more tends to make men more assertive in parenting, rather than deferring to mothers. Fathers on extended leaves also do more housework, and savor time spent with their infants more.
The example the co-founders set couldn’t have resounded more with their employees, says Mandy Smith, director of people operations. “When employees see the CEO and COO use our parental-leave policy and have faith that it’s going to work, they think, ‘Hey, I can do the same thing if I need to.’ ” Unpaid leave is mandated by federal law. Some 88% of workers have access, but few can afford to take much time off without pay. New York, New Jersey, California and Rhode Island offer paid family leave and Washington, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia are preparing to roll out similar programs. But access in the U.S. comes largely through employers.
Mr. Pizzimenti was surprised to find he had little time to tackle some projects he’d planned at home. “It’s one thing intellectually to understand that full-time parenting is difficult. But until you do it yourself, you don’t really have full empathy for how much of a mental load it is,” he says.
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