Screenshot of the Sydney Morning Herald report

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The Australian Catholic University is set to introduce 40 weeks' paid leave to new mothers and fathers at 60 per cent of their normal pay - on top of the 12 weeks' maternity leave on full pay for women and three weeks for men it already provides, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

New parents also receive the federal government's payment of $543 a week for up to 18 weeks.

ACU already offered these terms to its female staff, but by extending it to fathers who nominate themselves as the primary care giver, the university has created the most generous parental policy for male employees in Australia.

It has also raised the bar for the tertiary sector and, to some degree, thousands of other high-end employers across the country who are engaged in a battle to attract and retain the best staff.

''What tends to happen is that employers start to reflect or copy each other in an attempt to match what their competitors are doing,'' a Sydney University parental leave expert, Marian Baird, said.

''At the same time unions may seek more generous parental leave provisions in their negotiations with employers so that staff across an industry come up to the same standard. That is certainly what we've seen with the university sector in the past.''

"We are determined to promote gender equality and continue to attract and retain the very best staff," the ACU vice-chancellor, Greg Craven, said.

"The tension of combining a paid job with parenting has been well documented, and it is in keeping with the university's mission to do everything we can to make ACU a family-friendly organisation.''

FULL STORY

University offers daddy of all parental leave schemes (Sydney Morning Herald)

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Screenshot of the Sydney Morning Herald report?