Carlos' story
A father who chooses paternity leave to look after his infant daughter is not an everyday occurrence. In fact, it is something that many still find odd. Carlos is one of the 52 IKEA employees who, since 2010, has benefited from this possibility to enjoy fatherhood to the full during his baby daughter's first months of life.
I have thoroughly enjoyed being a father thanks to my paternity leave”
Carlos began working at IKEA to fill a temporary vacancy in the Tax Department. Several years later, he started to work as a web content editor, eventually taking on his current job as web editor in the E-Commerce department. He didn’t realise that the most important project of his life would begin when he learned he was going to become a father.
“I have been able to enjoy being a dad 24/7”
From the moment Carlos found out his partner was pregnant, he knew he wanted to fully enjoy being a dad. He didn’t want to experience his life’s greatest project half-heartedly.
So he started to look into whether he could afford to take paternity leave. What's more, IKEA provides a financial subsidy for the first two months of paternity leave .
“I took a total of two months’ leave, although I would have taken a lot more, if I’d been able to. I've had two marvellous months that went by so quickly. I have been able to change nappies, bath my daughter and feed her”, he tells us with excitement.
For Carlos, it was essential to be able to share looking after the baby with his partner and take on his share of household duties. “With the two of us at home, we have helped each other with the process of adapting to this new life”.
Carlos acted in support of shared responsibility. “We think we are a modern and advanced country, but I don’t believe this is the case. We need to do better in matters of shared responsibility, salaries and conditions, not only at a cultural or educational level, but also at an institutional level”.
This is why we have to come up with solutions: and Carlos finds it hard to explain all that needs to be done. But he firmly argues that all of us, individually, must do our bit in our own circles of influence. “This would make things very, very different”.
Working better with equality.