Welcoming a second child is going to be a completely different experience for CS Energy’s Digital Products and Platforms Manager Lahiru Wimalasuriya and his wife Allison than welcoming their first child was.
Lahiru is taking advantage of CS Energy’s comprehensive Parental Leave Policy, which provides 14 weeks paid annual leave for the parent who is the primary carer staying at home to take care of a new baby within the first 12 months of the child’s life.
“We didn’t have a policy like this at the company I was working in when my first child was born, so I was only able to take two weeks off per the Federal Government’s parental leave policies, and then use my annual leave,” Lahiru said.
“That meant that, during work hours, my wife was left dealing with the transition to being a new parent on her own as I didn’t have options available to support her more.
"At the same time, I was missing out on those really important early days with my firstborn.”
It’s been a very different story for the family this time round!
“CS Energy’s flexible working culture has meant that I was able to attend medical appointments with my wife, I’ll get to be there for those early months with the baby, and I’ll be able to help my oldest child transition as well,” Lahiru said.
“I’m the one who works at CS Energy, but my entire family will benefit from its culture.”
A big step forward
Parental leave policies have improved by leaps and bounds over the last few years – and they’re certainly different to when Lahiru was born.
“I don’t know if there even were any parental leave policies when I was born in the early 1990s – they certainly wouldn’t have been gender-neutral like they are at CS Energy,” Lahiru said.
“I think many families back then didn’t have two parents working and weren’t relying on two incomes."
Times have changed a lot since then.
“My wife had no choice but to stop working when we had our first child, and that’s going to impact her career for years. It starts from pre-natal and goes through to post-natal periods – and that’s for each child,” he said.
Lahiru said that having progressive parental leave policies and flexible workplaces are important to modern families, where both parents are often working.
“Work-life balance isn’t a buzzword – it’s something that can have mental and physical impacts on your family,” said Lahiru.
“Policies like these enable women to continue their career trajectories, and also ensure that men aren’t missing out on time with their children and families.”
The support you don't see
Of course, the show must go on – and for Lahiru to be able to spend time with his family, he’s being supported by his team, who are stepping up to help cover his duties.
“I started as a team of one and am now managing two teams with different functions, and I’m really lucky to have great people who are already across the work and delivering on workstreams behind me,” Lahiru said.
“We’ve broken down my responsibilities between my teams, and we’ve been documenting and handing over tasks, projects, and programs for a few weeks now.
“Additionally, my line manager is heavily across what I’m doing, as we have regular conversations around current and future workplans and visions.
“And of course, technology has huge role to play in flexible work - we use various collaboration tools to track and report on different opportunities and projects, which is useful for both keeping across what’s happening, and enables our team mates to step in and provide support when needed.”