Dads taking paternity leaves to take care of their newborn baby is still a new concept, especially in India. In fact, several companies don’t even give enough maternity leaves to new moms. But after people like Virat Kohli and Saif Ali Khan took a paternity break, it sparked a debate around it.
Now, soon-to-be dad, Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s Indian-American CEO announced that he will be taking paternity leave to take care of his second child with his wife Vineeta.
The 37-years-old CEO informed his colleagues that he will be going to take “a few weeks” of parental leave but will be in touch with the leadership team, reported the Times Of India.
It’s amazing to work at a company where the executives lead by example and take the generous Parental Leave given to all employees 💙
Congrats to Twitter Parents Executive Chair, @paraga, on this exciting news! #LoveWhereYouWork #WatchUsWingIt https://t.co/GCLuyNpxKb
— Twitter Parents (@TwitterParents) February 16, 2022
His decision was met with a lot of praise. People also opined that taking paternity leaves should be normalised.
When Senior Executives lead by example -their action encourages & inspires their employees too to take parental leave. Great time to bond with new born baby.
Way to lead @paraga , congratulations Hope more companies encourage & support their employees to take parental leaves https://t.co/mO9hfOuJMd
— Ruchi Angrish (She/Her) (@RuchiAngrish) February 17, 2022
Thanks @paraga for setting the example and congrats on the new addition! https://t.co/9Rt5WRtF5W
— Ben Radford (@BWRadford) February 16, 2022
Proud to work for a company where the example is set from the very top. When I took parental leave, I had a lot of people questioning it, but it's so important that all new parents take the time. Grateful to work for a company that gives–and encourages–it.
Congrats, @paraga! https://t.co/tF1tOes8dE
— Andrew Kat💤 (@KatzAndrewS) February 16, 2022
Love this for our CEO @paraga and for all the parents (and soon-to-be parents) @Twitter. 💙 This is how you lead by example! The @washingtonpost article brings to light how important the parental leave conversation is. https://t.co/IlSKGDjwja
— Dani B (@SportsMediaGal) February 16, 2022
Normalize men taking parental leave. 👏👏👏👏https://t.co/90G7mveAgk
— Laura Pacas (@lmpacas) February 16, 2022
The only interesting thing that happened to me today!
Thanks @AnushkaSharma @paraga
And yes, #paternityleave should be normalised like maternity leave! pic.twitter.com/sKtl8KdzxI
— Kiran Khatri (@kiranmk95) February 17, 2022
And among the many people who lauded his step to balance his work and family, was Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma.
Taking to Instagram stories, she shared a screengrab of this great news and wrote, “About time this is normalised”.
Even we think it’s a step in the right direction and Parag is definitely leading by example.