Flexible Paternity Leave and Return-to-Work Options for Dads
As you’re learning from Max Maternity Leave, there are several ways for you to create and negotiate the terms you want for maternity leave and a flexible return to work.
Likewise, your husband can also flex his paternity leave under FLMA the same way that you might. Although it’s likely he won’t take as much time off as you do, the proposition sets the stage for him to have a flexible work arrangement. That means he will have more time for you and the baby. (You will need his help!)
From this point, I will speak directly to him, so go ahead and share this article with him.
Paternity Leave Options
Many new fathers use vacation and sick days—but not “paternity leave”—to take about a week off to be (and help) with their newborn. That’s it.
But you’re determined to spend more time with your baby. You’re willing to bend, break or otherwise challenge a real or perceived company culture mold by taking paternity leave—paid or unpaid—and then some.
Good for you! And if that’s the case, you can use intermittent leave or reduced schedule leave provisions of the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to arrange to work a temporary part-time schedule after your baby arrives.
A three-day workweek may be feasible for the first week or two after your return to work. Beyond that, proposing a four-day workweek is more practical from both a financial and workload standpoint.
Taking those hours off as family leave under FMLA, your job remains protected by law.
Too Good to Be True?
Be aware that you must first get your employer’s permission if medical necessity is not a factor. The time-proven way to get approval of a flexible work arrangement is to present a professionally-crafted, persuasive proposal to your immediate manager. It must address not only your scheduling needs, but also your employer’s bottom-line interests.
Here’s What to Say to Your Manager
In presenting your proposal, frame the phase-back arrangement in a positive light. For example, in discussing your paternity leave plans with your manager, you might say,
You know there’s no way I can take the 12-week, job-protected family leave I’m allowed under FMLA. It’s just not practical for the office or my family.
What I’m proposing to do instead is to structure my leave time so that it’ll have minimal impact on office operations.
We’ve already discussed how my work will be managed during my one-week absence right after the baby is born; now here’s the temporary reduced schedule I’ve drawn up and an outline of how my job responsibilities will be managed.
Not Covered by FMLA?
If your employer is exempt from FMLA, use a proposal template package to help you develop a custom plan and proposal for a short-term reduced workweek anyway.
Here’s another idea: propose a temporary telecommuting or compressed workweek arrangement to allow you more time at home without reducing your full-time status. Added advantage: The temporary arrangement serves as a trial period and proving ground should you want to pitch an ongoing arrangement.
Are You a Good Telecommuting Candidate?
If your full-time employment is at an outside office doing so-called “knowledge work,” you may be a suitable candidate for doing your current job from home during part of the workweek.
Here are 3 reasons why a telecommuting arrangement may pay off for you:
1. There’s no cut in salary or benefits. Telecommuting allows you to retain your usual full-time schedule so there’s no need to sacrifice pay or benefits in exchange for more flexibility and time.
2. Your visibility can be maintained. You can maintain an acceptable level of the “face-time factor” on your at-the-office days. On work-at-home days, which are typically negotiated for one or two days a week, others can reach you through communication normally used at the office, such as telephone, email and instant messaging.
3. You get more time with your family! Telecommuting from a home office can be a savvy way to carve out several more hours each week to be with your family. How?
- By cutting the commute. If you negotiate to work from home two days a week—a common telecommuting arrangement—you would cut out four time-draining commutes. How many hours a week is that for you?
- By scaling down your extended workdays. Double-digit productivity gains are well-documented among employees who work from a remote location. (This is a selling point with your manager.) That could make a dent in the days that stretch for 10+ hours as you work on a crucial project or a pressing deadline.
Both working mothers and working fathers can craft creative ways to flex their schedule. By taking a modified paternity leave under FMLA, or by crafting your own arrangement to telecommute or work a reduced workweek, you can have more time with your baby.
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)
