According to Danske Fragtmænd’s announcement, 82% of the company’s workforce is male, and for a long time, paid maternity leave wasn’t a common topic of debate.
However, this has now changed. Jørn P. Skov, CEO of Danske Fragtmænd, said in a press release:
“The majority of our staff are male, and in the past, paternity leave probably wasn’t discussed much around our locations. But when the new parental leave legislation was adopted, it gave us reason to reassess our paternity leave conditions. Were they competitive, and most importantly, as one of Denmark’s largest companies, could we take the lead and contribute to ensuring equal conditions for women and men on the labour market? Based on these thoughts, we decided to offer 24 weeks of paid paternity/maternity leave regardless of whether you are male or female.”
The CEO added:
“The transport industry has long had a somewhat old-fashioned image, and we have challenges in obtaining qualified labour. Danske Fragtmænd has, however, gone through a modernisation process in recent years, and we have therefore dusted ourselves off a bit. We want to be the best workplace in the industry, and our new paternity/maternity conditions are just one of the initiatives we have started.”
Back in March of this year, the Danish Parliament approved a new law reforming parental leave rules by guaranteeing each parent 11 weeks at home with their newborn child. The change became active as of August 2nd.
The move by Danske Fragtmænd thus allows new fathers employed by the company to take more than double the amount of paid leave they are legally entitled to.
As stated by the official UK Government website, when a father takes time off in the UK because their partner is having a baby, adopting a child or having a baby through a surrogacy arrangement, they might be eligible for just 1 or 2 weeks’ paid paternity leave.
Photo: Lav Ulv from Viby J, Denmark, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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