Maternity and paternity leave is crucial for new parents to bond with their baby and create important memories together.
However, things aren’t as simple as taking time off work to spend time with your newborn, especially for fathers.
In Malaysia, mothers are entitled to at least 60 days of maternity leave at full pay.
However, there is no law that requires employers to give paternity leave, and some new fathers are given as little as one to three days of paternity leave.
Any extra days will have to be taken out of their annual leave, or used as unpaid leave.
This further compounds the expectation that women are meant to be the ones who take care of children within a family, while men should work and be less involved in childcare.
Fathers who wish to be more helpful at home are not given much of an opportunity to do so while being paid.
Earlier, Malaysian Employers’ Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said that to grant any more leave for these matters would be a burden to companies and employers.
He said: “We are very much stretched now in that the number of working days for an employee in Malaysia is already quite low. I don’t think we are ready to grant up to one month’s leave, like what is practised by some international companies like Ikea.”
He was responding to two reports – one by multinational furniture retailer IKEA who is offering male employees in Southeast Asia one month of paternity leave, and another about an employee at Maybank suggesting that private sector staff should also receive 90 days of paid maternity leave, which is currently given to civil servants.
Bardan’s worries are not unfounded as Malaysians have many public holidays and when combined with their annual leave, it can add up to a lot of paid holidays.
Too many days off hurts our economy and financial systems, and adds pressure on companies to continue being productive.
However, some Malaysians believe that granting longer parental leave is crucial to families and can be successful in the long term. But of course, there’s always a worry of some taking advantage of it.
Joshua Lee, 43, believes that it should be granted on a case-by-case basis.
“Leave granted to responsible staff will really benefit both the staff and company,” he said.
“But on the whole, Malaysians aren’t ready for this yet. Many will misuse it.”
However, Lee, who is chief executive consultant for Hashtagcity, believes granting working leave to new parents could be the solution as it allows the employee to work from home.
“It would give him peace of mind and a higher quality of life, and yet still maintain productivity at the company,” said Lee, who is a father of two.
Bernice Hon, who owns a small business working from home and who is a mother of one, thinks that post-natal depression is something employers should take into consideration when granting maternity leave.
“When I was in employment, the maternity leave granted sure wasn’t enough for a new mum, as babies are just so attached.
“Also, new mothers are prone to post-natal depression, so I’m sure that a longer maternity leave would help a lot.
“As for paternity leave, I really think that it needs to be longer so that fathers can have more time to bond with their babies,” Hon said.
Meanwhile, Edward Ong believes that businesses should have their employees’ best interests at heart, as well as be flexible about such leave.
While supporting the idea of longer leave for new parents, the father of two said companies should also give them the option to come back earlier if they want to.
“I think productivity depends on the whole person being present, physically, mentally and emotionally.
“No point having the person there physically if he or she is absent mentally and emotionally.
“When a child is born, an emotional bond is created too. Some people take a longer time to adjust, others shorter,” Ong said, adding that while productivity would be affected in the short term, in the long term, there would be a more productive society.
More maternity, paternity leave will burden bosses, says MEF