Prenatal care leave

At present, my country does not have uniform mandatory regulations on prenatal care leave at the national level. Current policies are mostly independently set by provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in local population and family planning regulations. The subjects of leave are spouses of pregnant women, and the duration ranges from 7 days to 30 days. Most areas make it clear that wages and bonuses will be paid during the leave, and welfare benefits will not be affected.

I have been working as a human resources administrator for almost 6 years, and I have handled dozens of related applications. What impressed me the most was when I helped my colleague Xiao Zhang defend her rights last year - his wife was due in October, and I checked the local regulations in Shandong that allowed 15 days of nursing leave. However, the company HR initially said that the company system only allowed 3 days, and that if you took more leave, your performance would be deducted. I helped him print out the relevant clauses in the provincial regulations, and found the official interpretation from the local Social Security Bureau as supporting evidence. He took it to talk to his boss. In the end, not only did he take the full 15 days off, but he also had his perfect attendance bonus deducted back.

Don’t think this is an exception. The current nursing leave policies vary greatly from place to place. Provinces such as Tibet and Xinjiang directly provide 30 days. Eastern provinces such as Jiangsu, Shanghai and Guangdong mostly provide 15 days, and some inland provinces only provide 7 days. There are still a few areas that have not clearly stated the relevant provisions of nursing leave in the regulations. It is really different leave for the same child.

There is actually a lot of quarrel now about whether there should be unified standards across the country. Most of the people who support it are ordinary office workers. They say that having a baby is a matter for the whole family. In some places, the baby's father can stay with him for a full month, but in other places, he can't even get it together for a week. It's so unfair. Moreover, if there are hard and unified regulations across the country, employees don't have to argue with the company about the regulations every time. But a friend I know who runs a small e-commerce company has a different opinion. There are more than 20 people in his company, and half of the male employees are of childbearing age between 25 and 35. During the 618 promotion last year, two male employees happened to take nursing leave at the same time, and the entire operation department almost couldn't turn around. He said that if the minimum requirement of 15 days is really unified, and there is no supporting subsidy policy, small businesses really can't handle it. Then they will be even less willing to recruit men who are suitable for marriage and childbearing, and instead do bad things with good intentions.

To be honest, instead of worrying about when the country will be unified, it is better to figure out whether you can take this leave now. Don't search for those messy workplace marketing accounts, go directly to the latest version of the "Population and Family Planning Regulations" of your province, and turn to the "Maternity Rewards and Protections" section. It's clearly written. There are many places where postpartum leave is not required. You can apply for it one week or even half a month before the due date. My brother took leave five days in advance last year. He accompanied my sister-in-law to the hospital every day for fetal heart rate monitoring, packing maternity packages, and going through hospitalization procedures. It was much more useful than rushing here in a hurry after giving birth. If the company really breaks the rules and refuses to give you a break, you can take the regulations to the local labor inspectorate and complain. As long as there are clear local regulations, it can basically be solved.

Of course, many companies are now ahead of the curve. My current company gives male employees 15 days of paid nursing leave, regardless of the local minimum standards, and an additional 1,000 yuan in maternity subsidy. During the school recruitment last year, many job seekers of the right age came specifically for this benefit. In fact, it helped us save a lot of recruitment costs, and it was actually not a loss at all.

To put it bluntly, prenatal care leave has never been as simple as "giving benefits to men". It is essentially a helping hand for small families that are just about to welcome a new member. It is necessary to allow the father to stay with his wife who is expecting child in a down-to-earth manner, and not to put all the costs on the company. When the concerns of both parties are taken care of, the leave can be a solid one, right?