Creating space for shared care

Parental leave at Goodman provides support and flexibility for parents, regardless of gender and family structure. Three male employees, Hunter, Ziad and Leigh, share how their families used some of the parental leave options available to Goodman’s people.

When Building Manager, Hunter, became a primary carer for his infant son, it marked a stark contrast to his experience raising older children two decades earlier. “Twenty-four years ago, this didn’t exist. If you wanted time off, it was annual leave,” he says. “Now, with Goodman’s policy, the opportunity is financially and physically available - it’s something I couldn’t not take up.”

Hunter accessed Goodman's primary carer’s leave, taking seven months off to be the sole carer of his newborn after his wife returned to full-time work. “It was amazing. We swapped roles completely: I did the midnight feeds, the 2am nappy changes, all the cooking and shopping. It was exhausting but excellent,” he recalls.

The support he received from Goodman was faultless. “There were no questions, no issues. It only enhanced my opinion of my employer,” Hunter says. 

Hunter says the experience gave him a new understanding of the realities of caregiving. “It’s not about gender - it’s about a child that needs a carer,” he says. “When you’re the one the baby fully relies on, you see how absorbing and relentless it can be. It changes your perspective.”