Equality advances when men apply for more permits

For years, equality in the company has been promoted with career, training or mentoring programs aimed at women.

But progress is limited for two reasons. First, because those who make decisions – still mostly men – do not always apply fair criteria of promotion and evaluation. Secondly, because family care is still almost always there. That men apply for fewer permits and reduce their working hours is not anecdotal. If only a part of the workforce takes care, equality in professional development suffers, even if the rules are well designed.

The II Collective Agreement of the Vodafone Group Spain (BOE, February 9, 2021) incorporates specific measures that guarantee that applying for permits and exercising care rights does not have a salary or professional cost. They are not statements, they are written rules that apply to the whole template.

In its labor regulation, these measures are included, among others:

–Permission for birth, adoption or reception in accordance with article 48.4 of the Workers’ Statute, applicable to both parents, with a salary supplement up to 100%.

–Right of each parent to leave for nursing care, with the option of concentrating it on full days or temporarily reducing the day without loss of pay.

–Regulation of working days, reductions and excesses in accounts with express guarantees: the time computes for antiquity and, in certain cases, the place is reserved. It is not a minor detail: today most of these reductions and excesses are requested by women.

Many companies have understood that co-responsibility is not achieved with messages, but with clear internal rules. PwC is an example.

The signing of professional services has eliminated the distinction between primary and secondary caregiver in their permit policy, so that both parents can assume care responsibilities on equal terms. In the United States, the firm offers 12 weeks paid for all parents and the use is close to 50%-50% between mothers and fathers, an unusual distribution, since men usually take less leave time.

PwC has also introduced measures to facilitate a return to work. In the US, after permission, parents can rejoin by working at 60% of the day for four weeks on full pay. In Switzerland, they can choose to work 60% for four weeks or 80% for eight weeks, also on full pay.

Equity is not progressing only with programmes for women. It progresses when men and women can take leave and reduce working hours without altering their professional career.