United Nations’ new employee policies: 16 weeks' parental leave, including for same-sex, surrogacy and adoptive parents

閱讀中文版本

HRO speaks exclusively to Ian Richards, Economist - Digital Government and Investment Facilitation, United Nations, who has been lobbying for this update to the parental policy since 2017.

Global peacekeeping body United Nations (UN) has enhanced its family-focused policies for employees, giving rise to new parental leave benefits, that include:

• 16 weeks of paid leave for each parent (includes same-sex, surrogacy, and adoption parents),
• A further 10 weeks of paid leave for the birth mother, and 
• Leave can be taken within one year of becoming parents and is retroactive for those who became parents in 2022.

To understand more about the thought and approach behind this change, HRO spoke exclusively to Ian Richards, Economist - Digital Government and Investment Facilitation, United Nations, who has been lobbying for this update to the parental policy since 2017, and announced this development on LinkedIn.

He shares: "I feel delighted by the change in policy, which has taken a lot of work with many colleagues. We were worried that cost considerations would block it at the final hurdle but we are glad that the General Assembly eventually decided to prioritise employee welfare."

He adds these new policies will affect staff regardless of where they are located, even in the places that offer something better on a statutory level. This is because the UN is exempted from local labour rules. However, he stressed on the need to have the same rules for everyone also because UN staff move from country to country frequently.

Presently, the draft administrative instruction for the new policies is being prepared by the UN Office of Human Resources. 

As someone who has successfully mobilised for change within the UN on compensation and benefits, cost-of-living adjustments, and remote working, the next big piece for Richards will be in equitable hiring and benefits policies, more specifically, the hiring of personnel as independent contractors (known as consultants) to perform core, ongoing, full-time functions - which he admits "will be hard". 

He explains: "There are many reasons why this happens but not all those reasons are justified. And having two classes of workers side by side isn't good for any organisation in the long run. Plus independent contractors don't get maternity leave, medical insurance nor pension contributions."

Lead image / Shutterstock