The American company I work for gives 24 weeks (6 months) of both maternity and paternity paid leave, more if you need it. As a single guy I'm a bit envious, but at least I get a 3 month paid sabbatical every 5 years plus unlimited time off.
What exactly are you envious of? That those 6 months off are akin to a 6 month vacation? It's a full-time job.
The smart business move would be to let people just take the time "off" and come back healthy and rested after a few months. Not sure why businesses don't see this obvious fact.
How is that relevant? Regardless of how hard parenting is, they decided to bring that responsibility upon themselves, and other employees bear the financial burden.
It's not a "job" in the normal sense because you're not generating profit for anyone, but the company is still paying you. All the people without children perform more labor but get rewarded less (because they get less time off, don't get whatever benefits patenthood may entail, etc.). People without children absolutely get screwed over by such arrangements.
Whether or not this is acceptable depends on your goals and what you consider acceptable incentivization schemes.
And the people without kids who don't like generous parental leave decided to bring that responsibility on themselves when they chose to work there. When they accepted that job, they saw what the benefits were. If they feel like they're getting screwed over, then they can choose to work somewhere else.
> That those 6 months off are akin to a 6 month vacation? It's a full-time job.
Except I'm sitting in a little room all day staring at a computer, you're spending all day with your family and seeing your new child walk and talk for the first time.
You think new parents sitting around laughing and taking pictures all day? hahahaha sorry, no.
New parenting (infants) is about 5% photo-filled rewarding, 95% just repetitive work, cleaning up shit (literally), waking up every couple of hours, trying to keep it together with your spouse in stressful situations with very little sleep, and feeding this organism that will eventually have a personality and start interacting back. And that ratio gradually changes as they grow older.
I remember after the first month, I used to consider going to the office my "break from parenting" because of its consistency and ability for my mind to just rest for a bit.
Just remember when you're asking a parent of an infant to have a full-time job on top of parenting, you've essentially now got an employee that is splitting their time/attention/energy between two jobs. If you're ok with the altered productivity, then that's fine.
I refuse to accept this ridiculous idea that you are making some great sacrifice by taking time off after your kid is born. If it's so horrible then don't take the time off.
I'm surprised more companies don't do this.