Garry with his family on parental leave

Empowering families with flexibility

Supporting new parents of any gender with equal access to parental leave

LAST UPDATED: 20 FEBRUARY 2023

 

To better suit different family needs, our paid parental leave approach gives all parents the option to take 18 weeks of paid leave after a new child arrives – at a time that suits them. Garry, who works in our finance team in Singapore, recently took parental leave in 2 separate periods, finding flexibility that suited his family.

I believe there’s no such thing as a primary or secondary parent. There are simply parents who, regardless of gender, deserve to spend the time they need with their growing families.

I've got 2 kids. My oldest, Kai, is now almost 2 years old, and unfortunately this new type of program wasn’t around when he was born. Life in those first few months was pretty intense, just “go, go, go, baby, baby, baby!”

Our newborn, Avi, is 9 weeks old. With this new leave program available, I decided to take the full 18 weeks of parental leave we can access now, but I'm splitting it into 2 blocks.

When you have a toddler as well, it's so much work for just one person. It’s so great being able to spend more time with my wife during this stressful period when we're both struggling with getting so little sleep. We’ve been able to balance the parenting workload and connect more as a family.

We’ve even got a morning routine going – we go out for a coffee and don't need to rush for takeaway, but can actually sit at a café, just spending time together while the babies are napping, chatting as a couple – and not just talking about next feed, nap or diaper change! It's a little thing, but my wife and I both cherish the chance to have that time together each day.

Garry holding Avi on parental leave

Garry

Garry, from our Finance team in Singapore, recently took 18 months of paid parental leave in 2 separate periods, finding flexibility that suited his family.

Although it’s great to have the flexibility in a lot of workplaces to work from home after having a baby, you're always going to be thinking about work “stuff” even when you’re not at your desk. Your next big meeting or task to deliver is always on your mind. So being able to be able to properly switch off and be present at home during this time is making a huge difference, compared to just popping out for an hour to look after the baby for a little bit. I can give raising my boys my full attention, rather than giving only partial attention to both work and family.

My leader was very flexible about it. In fact, his managing director is about to have his second baby too, and he's also going to be taking the full 18 weeks off as well, which is a great example to set for the rest of our team.

I am grateful that Rio has this policy, which has allowed me to spend more quality time with the family and be present without having to worry about work.

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