Employee Experience

Paternity Leave

Definition

What is Paternity Leave?

Paternity Leave is time off work given to a non-birthing parent, typically the father or second parent, following the birth or adoption of a child to bond with and support their growing family.

Featured snippet

Time off for the non-birthing parent following the birth or adoption of a child.

In Practice

How Paternity Leave works?

Paternity leave is the paid or unpaid leave available to fathers and non-birth parents following the birth or adoption of a child. Its uptake is consistently lower than maternity leave uptake even when entitlements are equal — driven by cultural norms, workplace stigma about men taking extended leave, and economic considerations when paternity leave is unpaid or lower pay than maternity leave. Organizations that normalize paternity leave through leader modeling (senior leaders visibly taking their full entitlement), peer storytelling (communicating that colleagues take and return successfully from paternity leave), and manager training (ensuring managers actively support and encourage leave take-up rather than subtly discouraging it) see uptake rates 2 to 3x higher than those that offer the benefit without cultural support.

By the numbers

Key Statistics

What the research says about employee engagement.

35%

Despite equal leave policies, fathers take an average of only 35 percent of their available paternity leave entitlement in organizations without active cultural normalization efforts — compared to 90 percent of mothers using their full maternity leave entitlement in the same organizations.

100%

Paternity leave uptake increases by 100 percent when senior male leaders in the organization visibly take their full entitlement and discuss their experience publicly — confirming that leadership modeling is the single most powerful lever for changing cultural norms around paternity leave.

60-90%

Countries with government-funded, well-paid parental leave for fathers — notably the Nordic countries — show the highest uptake rates (60 to 90 percent) and the smallest career outcome gaps between mothers and equivalent fathers over 10-year career trajectories.

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Also known as

Synonyms and Translations

Other ways this term appears across industries and languages.

Synonyms

Secondary Carer Leave

Partner Leave

Second Parent Leave

Translations

🇸🇦

Arabic

إجازة الأبوة

🇫🇷

French

Congé paternité

🇮🇳

Hindi

पितृत्व अवकाश

🇵🇰

Urdu

والدیت کی چھٹی

🇵🇭

Tagalog

Paternity Leave

People may ask

People May Ask

Common questions about employee engagement.

What is paternity leave?

Paternity leave is time off work given to the non-birthing parent after the arrival of a child, allowing them to bond with the newborn and support their partner.

How long is paternity leave typically?

Most statutory entitlements offer one to two weeks. However, progressive employers increasingly offer four to sixteen weeks of paid paternity leave.

Is paternity leave paid?

Statutory paternity leave is often paid at a reduced rate or flat weekly amount. Many companies now offer enhanced paid paternity leave as a recruitment benefit.

Can fathers take paternity leave without the mother's consent?

Yes. Paternity leave is an individual entitlement of the eligible parent and does not require the other parent's permission to exercise.

Is paternity leave available for adoptive parents?

In most countries and companies with parental leave policies, adoptive parents and same-sex couples are entitled to equivalent paternity or parental leave rights.

Paternity Leave

What is Paternity Leave?

How Paternity Leave works?

Key Statistics

Synonyms and Translations

People May Ask

Related Terms