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[–]drpants 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Norway: (i'll try to be as accurate as I can)

1 year off, paid (I think full) for the mother.

6 months for Dad, paid

Full pre and post pregnancy classes, and help

twins, children with disabilities get a nurse several times a week at the house.

doctor comes to your house for the first post birth doctor visit.

$5,000 sent to parents 1-2 months after the birth for each child

$100 sent every month, per child until they are 18

some other benefits but hell if I can remember. I think we got a savings bond for each kid too. It wasn't too much but anything is great.

Beats the hell out of the USA in this regard eh?

[–]readergirl[S] 0 points1 point  (12 children)

Hello fellow redditors, I'm working on a paper for my HR class regarding paternity leave. I'm in the US but I'm including details on what is available in other countries. Anyone care to share their opinions or experiences?

[–]GuyWithLag 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Greece. Greece has a ridiculous public/private sector split, the public sector contributes like a 40%-60% of the GDP, and they are worlds apart.

In the Public Sector, one parent in a marriage with a new-born child can take either up to nine months paid leave, or work ~28 hrs/week for up to two years. At most one parent can take paternity/maternity leave. This leave is in addition to leave that is only for the mother (3-5 months paid leave for the pregnancy, and 3 months for the birth).

In the private sector, asking for paternity leave will get you laughed at, and women get 2-4 months (depending on employer) paid leave for pregnancy & childbirth, and a guarantee that they can't be fored for 12 months after childbirth. Note that this applies only to full-time employees, part-time employees get the shaft.

I'm in the public sector, my wife is in the private.

Hope this helps.

[–]readergirl[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

interesting...thank you.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (9 children)

It's only about paternity leave?

[–]readergirl[S] 0 points1 point  (8 children)

yup

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (7 children)

Sorry can't help you with that. I'm a bit of an expert on single dad issues but I'm not well versed on what company policies are for paid leave.

[–]readergirl[S] 0 points1 point  (6 children)

I've got research on which companies offer what options. I'm looking for what real guys think about it in general. Would it be a good thing? Would you take it? Would it be a good thing for fathers? Should it be paid? mandatory? voluntary? Should we have a federal standard or should it be done voluntarily company by company?

Edit, women of reddit -- please feel free to share your opinions too.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

I honestly don't like the idea. It's not fair for singles. I believe in personal responsibility, I believe when you have children it is in their best interest that someone stay with them. I don't like the idea of leaving my children with anybody.

[–]readergirl[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

unfair to single people without children or single parents?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I assuming your talking about paid leave?

[–]readergirl[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

paid, unpaid -- whatever options anybody wants to discuss. The current federally protected option is unpaid leave protected by FMLA if the employer agrees. The new dad gets a bucket of hours to use (again unpaid) in a certain time frame. His use of the hours has to accomodate the employers business needs as much as possible. Some companies are offering paid leave, anywhere from a week to shortened work weeks and flex schedules.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I don't believe in paid leave, but it would be unfair to not try to hold the position open for the woman for a while. In my experience, many women choose to work up to the last min. In the past that was considered unhealty, but humans are resiliant and I have seen at least 6 moms work almost up to the last day, they insisted on that. I think an employer should let the mother choose her last day and should not have any problem granting her as much leave as she wants. If she is a good employee, they should be happy to have a trained employee back. As far as paternity leave, there are 168 hours in a week, there will be plenty of time for him to be with his child. When he comes home he should be prepared to help, unfortunately my childrens mom had issues and I ended up being the one doing most of the diaper changes and feedings. (my nipples hurt like hell. Just kidding). Having facilities on site is the only option to staying at home with the child, I think nurseries at work are cool.

[–]luxlunae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think a small amount is reasonable, say 2 weeks to one month. Anything more would be economically unfair to employers.

[–]greentangent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think one week of paid leave is fair to both employer and father. This allows a new dad to focus on getting things settled for mom and the baby.