Be Fruitful and Multiply

Among the latest incentives from the government to boost our birth rate are longer maternity leave (4 months!), additional childcare leave, subsidies for couples trying to conceive (finally!) and of course, more baby bonus.

But I don't understand how increasing the length of the maternity leave would encourage more couples to have children. I think there are very few couples, if any, who decide to have children so that the mother can take 'leave'. Wouldn't the long absence place added pressure on companies and female employees instead?

How are companies, especially the smaller ones or even lean departments in larger organizations be expected to cope with the long absence of their employees. Four months is no joke. That's a quarter of a year. And essentially, employers would end up having not only to pay the mother's salary, but also that of a replacement staff, leading to additional costs that would burden their cash flow. Plus, other colleagues would have to portion out the mother's workload and they may not take that too kindly. All this may lead to further discrimination of mothers and by extension, women, in the workplace.

Come on, let's be a bit more radical here so that we can really bring about a change in mindset with regard to parenting. Why not implement shared parental leave instead so that both the mother and the father have the same entitlement to paid leave to care for the newborn? After all, fathers must also bond with their children and learn how to care for them. And if both parents take turns, say the mom takes the first two months off followed by the dad, the shorter length of time both are absent from the office would be much appreciated, I'm sure. It would also provide fewer reasons for companies to discriminate against female employees.

Also, how about encouraging (whether with financial or legal 'incentives') companies or groups of companies within the same building or area to set up childcare centers for their staff, thus allowing parents to be closer to their children?

Workplaces should be made more child- or baby-friendly so that parents would have no qualms about bringing their children to work, for example if junior's school is suddenly closed due to illness.

In fact, companies and at the very least, building owners, should be required to make creche or nursing facilities available to their staff. I believe that many parents would feel more reassured to have their children nearby and may not even need to rush home so early in order to make sure that their children are fed.

I don't think couples need incentives in order to have children. At least, I don't believe that they could be so calculative. Even if they were, simple arithmetic would show them that the cost (real or opportunity) of having children is definitely much greater than any financial incentives handed out by the government. However, family friendly policies, especially those that impact employment and the workplace, would really go a long way in making parenting easier and less stressful for the parents and their co-workers.