PNG businesses lose 14 workdays per employee each year to childcare responsibilities, according to a new study by the International Finance Corporation and PNG Business Coalition for Women. But employers have the power to solve this problem, the two leads of the landmark report tell Business Advantage PNG.

Classes at Tuhava school. Credit: IFC/Andrew Hau

Flexible working arrangements and paid parental leave are among the top solutions that PNG businesses should consider in their battle to restore lost productivity and retain talented employees, according to the two leads of a landmark report on the subject.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and PNG Business Coalition for Women (BCFW) conducted research with 29 of PNG’s largest private-sector companies for the study into employer-supported childcare in PNG.

They found that businesses lost the equivalent of 13.7 workdays per employee each year – at a cost of around K1.3 million per business – due to staff being late, absent or distracted as a result of childcare responsibilities.

“It’s very clear that the business community needs to understand the cost”

“This was higher than studies we’ve done in other places like Fiji, Myanmar and Vietnam. It was really quite significant,” Ellen Maynes, IFC Pacific Gender and Inclusion Lead, tells Business Advantage PNG.

“Another thing we found was, with 75 per cent of working parents saying that childcare responsibilities are impacting their work, it’s also affecting their ability to progress in their career.”

Business can be the solution

PNG law provides up to 18 weeks of paid maternity leave for women working in the public sector, but only six weeks unpaid leave for women in the private sector. Working fathers are not entitled to any parental leave.

In July 2023, the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission announced it would review and recommend changes to maternity leave entitlements.

But while 19 per cent of participants in the IFC/BCFW survey named parental leave as one of their three preferred childcare solutions, several other solutions were ranked as more important.

Childcare subsidies were named a top priority by around 58 per cent of respondents. This was followed by family leave for children’s health (around 40 per cent), transportation to a childcare centre and/or school (38 per cent), and flexible work options (37 per cent).

Formal childcare options in PNG are limited, however, and many of the research participants think it would be difficult to make effective use of subsidies due to a lack of available daycare centres and concerns about the quality of the existing options.

The International Finance Corporation and PNG Business Coalition for Women’s top three recommendations for employers:

• Flexible working arrangements
• Parental leave entitlements
• Diverse childcare solutions to meet the challenges of modern parenting and childhood

Maynes says PNG businesses can act ahead of any legislative changes, starting with a review of their practices and policies relating to childcare.

“That might include taking a look at if they have flexible work options or not; what other arrangements are in in place; and do they offer any paid care for parents or not,” she says.

The IFC has worked closely with a number of businesses on this issue, including Rhodes PNG, which recently funded the construction of a primary school near its Tuhava Town housing development outside Port Moresby.

The school accepts enrolments from children of Rhodes employees and other families in the local community. Most importantly, it offers childcare for children as young as two-and-a-half years old – freeing up parents to be more productive at work.

Critical for economy

Maynes and Evonne Kennedy, BCFW Executive Director, both emphasise the importance of initiatives that enable mothers to remain in the workplace.

“It’s very clear that the business community needs to understand the cost,” Kennedy says.

“We keep hearing about breastfeeding mothers who feel forced to come back to work very quickly – in some cases within two weeks. And, in some cases, they are actually having to choose whether they would come back to work because of childcare arrangements.”

Maynes points out that a 2023 World Bank report found that bridging the gap between male and female participation in paid employment could boost the country’s gross domestic product per capita by 20.8 per cent in the long term.

But she argues that the long-term benefits of higher female participation could go even beyond that.

“We know that when women are participating in paid work, that they’re more likely to use the money they earn towards their children’s education and towards their nutrition and health,” she says.

“Child malnutrition costs the national economy an estimated US$508 million (K1.99 billion) annually, so investing in working parents and children is really important for the country.”