Acceptance of Leaves Uncertain

Women have long assumed, perhaps correctly, that taking maternity leave assigns them to the Mommy Track -- a slow, if not dead-end, career path. There are individual examples to both validate and dispute that assumption.

If such consequences are unpredictable for women who have long track records of working and having babies, it's no surprise that men aren't quite sure what effects paternity leaves might have on their careers.

One recent academic study indicates that men may have cause to worry. A different survey indicates that men are blowing potential repercussions out of proportion and that employers don't have a big problem with paternity leaves.

Research undertaken in Wake Forest University's Calloway School of Business and Accountancy suggests that male bosses might be particularly hard on male workers who take paternity leave. That conclusion came from researchers Julie Holliday Wayne and Bryanne Cordeiro, who gave mock personnel files to 242 undergraduate students.

Each file included sample request forms for Family and Medical Leave Act leaves, variously citing the need to care for a sick child, to care for an aging parent, or to care for a newborn. The students were asked to evaluate the workers based on all the information in the individual files.

Generally across the board, the evaluators rated men who asked for paternity leave less favorably than they rated women who sought maternity leave. Men who asked for leave to care for parents also were rated more poorly than women. (Curiously, male and female workers got equal evaluations when they asked for time off to care for sick children.)

As mentioned, male evaluators were tougher on men who sought leave than were the female evaluators.

Wayne's conclusion: The law may guarantee the right to unpaid family or medical leave for many workers, but it doesn't guarantee how the leave taker will be perceived in the workplace -- which brings us to the second report.

The Families and Work Institute surveyed both fathers and employers about the ramifications of taking paternity leave or asking for other flextime arrangements. Forty percent of the fathers who responded believed that any such accommodations could damage their careers.

But the institute's 1998 "Business Work-Life Study" from which the results were taken, indicated that only one-tenth of the 1,057 employers (all in organizations with at least 100 employees) thought that taking such leaves could damage careers.

It's worth noting that this survey hit only workplaces with 100 or more workers. The temporary absence of any worker in those larger environments may be less disruptive than extended absences in smaller workplaces where there are fewer co-workers to fill in.

None of the studies was able to inject the role of personality, interpersonal relationships and perceived long-term value of the worker to the employer. So it's entirely possible that such work-life accommodations could indeed be career killers for some workers and a mere hiccup for others. Some valued employees may be encouraged to take time off -- whatever it takes -- to deal with pressing family needs, and then be welcomed back without a career blip.

In addition to individual differences, the "work-life cultures" inherent in different workplaces can help forecast how well maternity or paternity leaves will be accepted. It pays to watch how others have been treated in similar situations.

Article by Diane Stafford for the Kansas City Star.  Reprinted with permission. 
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