Johan Ahmed, Head of Human Resources at BRAC-Aarong and Ayesha Abed Foundation, on the Aarong’s holistic approach to employee wellbeing and the growing importance of paternity leave
What attracted you to HR as a profession?
HR is a profession that is still maturing and exploring different ways to make a difference. It is constantly growing and changing, from compliance with new laws and legislation to technology and changing employee expectations, making it exciting and challenging. HR ensures organisations run smoothly and protects the company and its people. It allows us to make people’s working lives better. All these aspects of HR attracted me to this profession.
Aarong’s initiative of allowing paternity leave has been highly applauded and catalysed a meaningful conversation. Why is paternity leave so important?
Child care is the responsibility of both parents. Fathers who are actively involved in their children’s upbringing might be able to have a beneficial, long-lasting impact on them. Paternity leave promotes gender equity in both the working and private sphere. It allows fathers to set the foundation for a more equal distribution of childcare and domestic responsibilities in the future. It can influence parents’ decisions about allocating resources to childcare, domestic work and paid work in later years. Additionally, the increased involvement of men in domestic tasks enables women to balance their personal and professional responsibilities better. In addition, Postpartum depression is a fact that is not addressed very often. Granting paternity leave will allow the husband to spend more time with his wife and child.
It is high time that the government includes paternity leave as the statutory law, as it won’t be easy if it is only left up to the companies.
We live in a patriarchal society, where it is strongly believed that childcare is the sole responsibility of mothers. To some extent, it even discourages men from supporting their wives in child care. The fathers are viewed only as a means of ensuring social security and the breadwinners. The absence of paternal leave in the employment law shows that even the government is not prioritising this. It is high time that the government includes paternity leave as the statutory law, as it won’t be easy if it is only left up to the companies. We at Aarong created a social media post about how we provide paid paternity leave to raise awareness and encourage other organisations to do the same.
Head of Human Resources at BRAC-Aarong & Ayesha Abed Foundation
What have been some of the positive implications of the policy of paid paternity leave for the company?
Choosing between working and being a parent is difficult, especially when both parents are working professionals. When an organisation provides paid paternity leave, it shows that they value employees and their families. Paternity leave can be a crucial part of higher satisfaction for fathers, who make happier employees over the longer term. It increases productivity and boosts employee morale. When employees can return to work after their leave, it provides job security and satisfaction. It certainly helps in employee retention and attracting new talent.
What other facilities are provided by Aarong to employees in regard to employee wellbeing?
In addition to paternity, annual, and sick leave, we have other types of leaves included in our policy for employee wellbeing. Our female employees are entitled to six months of paid maternity leave, with the option of taking another six months unpaid. We also have adoption (3 months for mothers, 1 month for fathers), miscarriage ( 1 month), bereavement ( 3 working days), Quarantine (up to 21 days), and accidental (as required) leaves.
When an organisation provides paid paternity leave, it shows that they value employees and their families. Paternity leave can be a crucial part of higher satisfaction for fathers, who make happier employees over the longer term. It increases productivity and boosts employee morale.
We have a doctor on our office premises. All Dhaka-based employees have access to a wellness centre run by BRAC, which has a gym and access to nutritionists. We recognise the need for mental health; to support this, we have a mental health support unit run centrally by BRAC. In addition, we have a state-of-the-art daycare centre named Aador in our head office. Our production centres (Ayesha Abed Foundation) also have childcare facilities, where our artisans can keep their children. We also have provident funds, gratuity, yearly inflation, health & life insurance, subsidised pick-drop, lunch facilities, etc., all of which support employee wellbeing.
What is your leadership style? What are the qualities a good HR professional must possess?
There is no single effective approach to leadership. Different approaches may be more or less effective in achieving results under certain conditions. The different approaches also have different effects on the organization’s environment.
An HR professional must possess the skills and knowledge to perform sound human resource management (HRM) practices effectively. We usually focus only on technical expertise, such as HR strategy, talent acquisition, total rewards, learning and development etc., but mostly ignore behavioural expertise, which can be clustered as leadership, interpersonal and business. We must remember that technical expertise is only a foundation; it must be complemented by behavioural expertise. To be successful as an HR professional, one must possess a complete array of behavioural and technical competencies.
Photograph: Shihab Mohammad