A closer look at Finland’s new flexible parental leave

Previously, mothers had 105 working days of maternity leave, fathers had 54 working days of paternity leave and parents had the option to split 158 working days of parental leave.

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“The problem we’ve had here in Finland — and I think it’s the same for other countries — is that gender-neutral leave [shared between parents] was mostly used by women,” says Petteri Eerola, a senior lecturer in the faculty of education and psychology at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, whose research includes family and childcare practices and fathers’ motivation and barriers to taking parental leave. “What we know from research in Finland and other Nordic countries is fathers take [only] the parts of the leave that are earmarked for them.”

Impact of the policy

While Eerola expects the policy to boost fathers’ leave-taking, some Finnish researchers and politicians have raised concerns that the transferrable portion of the non-birthing parent’s allotment may simply prompt fathers to give those days to their partners.

The changes are already showing small signs of progress. In November 2023, the Helsinki Times reported that Kela, the Finnish social insurance institution, found that, by the end of September 2023, fathers’ use of parental leave had increased compared to the previous year. Between January and September 2023, men received 15.2 per cent of parental leave days paid out, compared to 12.6 per cent during the same period in 2022. Similarly, in 2021, fathers of children aged one had used an average of 30 paternity or parental leave days, while in 2022, fathers of children who were born that year took an average of 44 days of leave.

However, the full picture is more complicated. The Times’ report noted while 76 per cent of fathers took some parental leave, 75 per cent of mothers had been transferred days from the other parent and 70 per cent received the full transferable allotment of 63 days. Kela did not respond to Benefits Canada’s interview request.

Lessons for Canada

A host of public policy, employer and domestic factors need to occur for fathers to take more parental leave, says Rachael Pettigrew, an associate professor and the chair of general management and human resources at the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University in Calgary. Employers’ organizational culture needs to be supportive of leave-taking, including vocal enthusiasm from leadership. It’s also important that employer policies refer to leave in gender-neutral terms, such as calling it parental or family leave.

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On the legislative side, fathers are more likely to take leave when there are specific days allotted for them, rather than parental leave that’s shared between both parents. It’s something Canada can learn from Finland and other Nordic countries, she says, as Canadian fathers’ ability to take leave hinges on their partner qualifying for employment insurance and the parental leave benefits are shared between parents.

“The difference between [an allotted quota for fathers] and shared parental leave is [the latter] is open to negotiation between partners and that’s perceived differently by employers.”

Another policy factor is wage replacement rates, an area in which Canada lags relative to both Nordic countries and Quebec, she says. Parents who take the standard 12-month leave in Canada have an income replacement rate of 55 per cent and that drops to 33 per cent for parents who opt to extend their leave to 18 months. This low-income replacement rate is why Canadian employers with top-up policies stand out in the market, she says.

“Although 30 per cent of women now out-earn their [male] partners, the odds are men are earning more. When you’re doing the family calculator and say, ‘Who’s going to take longer [parental leave]?’ it often doesn’t make sense for the father to stay home.”

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In contrast, Quebec’s income replacement rate for parents taking leave starts at 70 per cent for the first seven weeks and drops to 55 per cent for the following 25 weeks. Finland’s wage replacement rate during parental leave is around 70 to 80 per cent, says Eerola, adding it’s not common for Finnish employers to have leave top-up policies.

While Nordic countries do much better on parental leave for LGBTQ2S+ families, Canada’s approach is better than those of other English-speaking countries, says Pettigrew, noting the federal government adapted much of the language in the policy to be gender neutral, which gives those families the ability to access parental leave.

She praises the flexibility of Finland policy, which allows parents to take leaves in up to four chunks or on a part-time basis until their child reaches age two. Canadian employers could enhance the flexibility of parental leave by providing an income supplement that allows employees to do a staggered return to work.

“Even within the confines of our program, there are ways to do a phased return or work individually with parents,” says Pettigrew. “What gives companies an edge is going above compliance.”

Kelsey Rolfe is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

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