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Featured Guest Blogger July 14th, 2008

Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Chief Minister has announced that grandmothers and grandfathers who work for public services in Australia will be able to take 52 weeks of unpaid grandparental leave over the course of three years.  The purpose of this legislation is twofold:

1. The workforce will able to retain its older workers who might have otherwise retired
2. Grandparents will be able to maintain a better balance between work and family, and will be able to play an important role in their grandchildren’s lives. 

There is no age requirement or cut-off for the grandparents, but the grandchild must be less than three years old. 

 

I see an additional, and unmentioned, benefit to this legislation.  Having grandparent care available will also enable working parents to better manage their work situation, as grandparent care can save parents gobs of money and energy in alternative child care arrangements.  In 2005, the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that grandparents were providing child care services to more than 660,000 Australian children.  Grandparents cared for more than half of the one-year-olds who depended on child care and almost 40% of five-year-olds.  In almost every case, this care was cost-free for the parents. 

 

One troubling facet of this legislation that I can imagine is the class divide that may occur in who can use the new policy.  Who can afford to take a year of unpaid leave?  What good is job security if one cannot afford to go unpaid?  Might it be better for these workers to collect their post-retirement benefits than to have an unpaid year with job security at the end? 

 

We’re not sure.  Either way, it’s a well-researched piece of legislation with the well-intentioned goal of benefiting both the workforce and families of Australia.    

• Child Care , Dependent Care , Family Leave , Leave , Older Workers , Policy , Workplace