Designing a New Way to Work and Parent
Fatherhood is changing. Men want to be more involved at home and in childcare. Families are doing it differently than the generations before and trying to build careers alongside a version of parenthood that asks more of them.
We collected anonymous data and personal stories from fathers, working parents, and managers across the US and Europe to find out: how fathers want to parent, how families are really dividing work and care, what working parents need — and what all of this means for the workplace.
Ending with a practical checklist of changes you can make in your organization today, our 2026 whitepaper, Designing a New Way to Work and Parent, looks at what modern parenthood actually looks like — and how we can build workplaces that work with it, not against it.
modern fatherhood
Fathers aren’t stepping back from work. They’re stepping further into care.
The shift isn’t simply about mothers doing less and fathers doing more.
Parents are rethinking how they divide care, financial responsibility and the daily work of family life. Yet many of the systems surrounding them were built for a very different model of family.
The question isn’t how parents can make work and life balance. It’s whether we’ve designed work for the way families actually live now.
Parenting Differently
84% of fathers said they are parenting differently from how they were raised, and 71% of them are satisfied with their role. For many, that means being more present and taking a more active role in the everyday work of raising their children.
More Childcare, Not Less
Not one father we surveyed wanted to do less childcare. In fact, 24% wanted to do more — challenging the idea that greater involvement at home is something being imposed on fathers rather than something they actively want.
Without a Blueprint
Managers feel confident supporting parents, but they’re often figuring it out as they go. Only half had a parental leave policy outlining how managers should support employees, while 39% had no manager-specific resources at all.
From Confident to Equipped
Only 17% of managers had access to formal resources or training for parental leave transitions. Give managers the structure and tools to support parents consistently — so no one has to figure it out as they go.
from research to action
Get Started Today
The research showed us where the gaps are. So we turned what fathers, parents and managers told us into practical changes you can make before, during and after parental leave.
No complete program overhaul required. Just a better place to start.