Paternity leave is to be extended to fathers in Finland in a bid to get dads to spend more time with their children.
In addition, paid allowances between parents will be increased to a combined 14 months. This translates to 164 days per parent.
Currently, maternity leave in Finland is 4 and a half months while fathers are given two and a half months until the child turns two.
The Nigerian government increased parental leave to four months in 2018. The Nigerian parliament rejected the paternity leave billed when it was proposed in 2018.
Currently, only a few private sector organisations like Access Bank and Guinness Nigeria approve paternity leave for their male staff in Nigeria.
The BBC reports Finland’s health and social affairs minister Aino-Kaisa Pekonen as telling reporters that a radical reform of family benefits had begun.
Mr. Pekonem explained that the development is aimed at strengthening the relationship of parents from the start.
On top of that, another six months’ parental leave can be shared. However, on average only one in four fathers take what they are given.
Under the new parental leave, each parent would receive 6.6 months’ leave (164 days under Finland’s six-day-week benefit system) while pregnant women would get an additional month’s allowance.
Parents would also be allowed to transfer 69 days of their quota while single parents would be allowed to use both allowances.
Here are 5 ways to adjust to working after a maternity leave