'Game-changer': Companies paving the way for parental leave overhaul

But for many families, three years is just too long to wait for the shared paid parental leave extension.

This can be one of the largest disruptors for women who take time out of the workforce for caring responsibilities and end up with less superannuation than their male counterparts at retirement.

To tackle these issues, some businesses are taking their own measures to close the gap in gender inequities.

Among the most prominent is accounting giant PwC, which has turned parental leave on its head ahead of the federal government changes.

National leader Martina Crowley told the Forbes Women in Business Summit this week that the company last year moved parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks of paid leave – in line with the government proposal.

“That’s fantastic for working families,” she told the summit.

PwC has also removed the definition about needing to be a primary and secondary carer so ”more non-birthing males will take parental leave”.

Employees can also take it up to two years after the birth of the child.

“It is a game-changer,” she said.

“It will enable us to attract more female talent to our organisation and retain the ones with the sparks that we want to get back after they have time to enjoy their family.”

PwC hasn’t just increased the length of leave but the company has introduced superannuation for not just the 26 weeks but the whole year of parental leave.

“When we went through the process of changing the policy, it was tricky, it took us time at the executive board to get there,” she said.

Managing director of Google Australia and New Zealand Melanie Silva said it isn’t just about increasing the length of leave, it is about reframing how companies look at it.

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“I still think across the board parental leave is a problem that needs to be solved, a gap that needs to be solved,” she said.

“If we could just reframe that for a hot minute and say ‘okay, someone is going away for 12 months’ that creates a step-up opportunity for someone.

“When I took my maternity leave, at last count 10 people ended up doing flips into different roles.

“Those people are better because they got to walk a mile in my shoes, they got to learn from experiences they never would have had.”

She said her having a baby created an “amazing development opportunity for the team”.

Silva emphasised companies should be looking at parental leave as an opportunity for other employees to step up and take on different responsibilities instead of the problem of filling a gap.

JBWere executive Maria Lykouras said despite all these moves in the tech and finance space, in the 25 years of her career, gender inequities have not changed enough.

“In financial planning in general, for every female there are four males and when you look at leadership level in the wealth management space it is worse than that,” she said.

“In 25 years we have not moved where we need to go.”

Lykouras said her company has implemented flexible working to retain women and remove the dilemma of choosing between personal and professional lives.

“Flexible working to show women you don’t need to make choices between personal and professional lives and that you can do both,” she said.