This policy brief draws on the substantial evidence on the health, educational, and economic benefits of family-friendly policies to recommend four transformative shifts in workplaces:
- From ‘maternal’ to ‘parental’ leave: Time and support for all key caregivers is important for young children’s development.
- From ‘infrastructure’ to ‘people’: These policies should go beyond infrastructure changes such as safer work conditions and breastfeeding rooms, to a strengthened approach of investing in families so they can provide both time and support to their young children.
- From ‘individual’ to ‘co-responsibility’: It is also crucial to move from viewing work-family balance as an individual matter to a shared responsibility of governments, private sector employers and families.
- From ‘reducing parental stress’ to ‘enhancing family wellbeing’: Social structures and the work environment have been shown to affect stresses associated with parenting. Family-friendly policies can help to reduce parenting stress and promote wellbeing among parents. This, in turn, leads to better businesses, happier families, and healthier children.
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