Shorter Parental Leave Could Earn the Czech Republic Billions. Most Parents Support an Earlier Return to Work – Mothers and Fathers Welcome 2025

Author: Petra Schwarz Koutská for Business for Society

The length of parental leave has long been a topic of debate in the Czech Republic. Since last year, its duration was shortened to three years. Was this “reform” the last major change for a while, or will Czechia take the opportunity to significantly adjust its parental leave system, following the example of other European countries? According to calculations by data economist Petr Bartoň, presented at the Mothers and Fathers Welcome 2025 conference, combining parental and maternity leave into a more compact form within one and a half years could generate up to CZK 35 billion annually in income tax and social security contributions.

Such an amount would rank among the top ten expenditure items of the state budget. With these extra billions, some social benefits – such as care allowance – could nearly double, and women’s employment could rise by 5%. Alternatively, the funds could be invested in expanding children’s groups and other early childhood education facilities.

The Mothers and Fathers Welcome conference is organized annually by the responsible business platform Business for Society. This year’s 10th anniversary edition built thematically on last year – the systemic change of shortening parental leave, inspired by successful Swedish practice. This year, the focus was mainly on the economic impacts of such a reform.

Petr Bartoň spoke about the possibility of combining maternity and parental leave while reducing their overall duration. According to him, the state wouldn’t need to spend more – on the contrary, it would earn billions in contributions. “Since the fall of communism, the average age of mothers taking parental leave has shifted. Most are now over thirty and earn significantly more than twenty-year-olds. That means their exit from the labour market costs the state more and more. When they eventually return to work – which takes longer in Czechia – their incomes don’t grow much further, whereas men’s earnings do.”

Czechia’s three-year parental leave still significantly deviates from the European average. The long leave period mostly limits lower-income families with a low so-called assessment base, as they are forced to stretch the parental allowance over a long time in small amounts.

Shortening extended parental leave in Czechia would provide parents – especially mothers – with a higher monthly allowance. The total amount would stay the same, just drawn over a shorter period. Mothers want to work – some full-time, others part-time or through flexible jobs. Supportive work conditions, programs for working parents, and various forms of workplace flexibility are the right solution. However, to make shorter parental leave work effectively, investments must also go toward supporting families – especially into affordable childcare. Shortening parental leave does not mean taking something away – it means giving: freedom of choice, opportunities, financial support, and recognition.

Nordic Equality Supports GDP

Marie Bendegard, Deputy Head of Mission at the Swedish Embassy in Prague, who opened this year’s conference themed “Swedish Inspiration II”, stated: “Fifty years ago, Sweden became the first country in the world to introduce gender-neutral paid parental leave. Major reforms followed in the 1990s. Today, parental leave lasts 480 days, though most parents don’t use the full duration and return to work earlier. Most families rely on dual incomes. Approximately 90% of Swedish fathers take at least some part of parental leave. On average, fathers use 30% of the total number of days.”

Sweden has one of the most generous and egalitarian parental leave systems in the world. Parents are jointly entitled to 480 days of paid leave, with 90 days reserved specifically for each parent (the so-called father’s quota and mother’s quota). If one parent does not use their share, those days are forfeited. Since the 1970s, these policies have increased women’s employment in Sweden by roughly a quarter, significantly contributing to GDP growth.

According to Marie Bendegard, it’s not just about the number of days or father involvement. The entire family and social policy framework plays a role. “We have excellent and affordable nurseries and kindergartens. Parents benefit from various advantages through health insurance, and employers hold their jobs for them. Reducing work hours to 80% when returning is common,” she adds.

According to last year’s report by the MumDoo platform (in cooperation with Behavio), 93% of Czech parents (mainly mothers) caring for children under four would welcome an earlier return to work. Yet in reality, only 52% of them actually work. Greater involvement of the rest could bring billions of crowns annually into the state budget. The gap between demand and availability is partly due to the record-low number of part-time positions in Czechia – just 6% – and partly due to a lack of childcare capacity. “That’s why nearly a third of people on parental leave consider becoming self-employed – even though only 11% worked that way before having children,” says Kristýna Cejnarová, co-founder of MumDoo.

Only 2% of Czech Fathers Use Parental Leave

In Czechia, very few men take on caregiving roles. It’s both a cultural and economic issue, compounded by a system that doesn’t encourage shared caregiving, despite the 2019 EU Work-Life Balance Directive. Czechia implemented the directive cautiously and didn’t introduce a non-transferable portion of leave. As a result, 98% of parental leave users are still women. These women later face long-term penalties for their caregiving. From the moment they start caring for children, the income gap between men and women widens considerably. Lower income also leads to lower pensions. Everything is connected – Czech women earn 18% less than men, placing the country among the worst in the EU. Only Romania and Hungary fare worse.

According to Marie Bendegard, the key to gradually shifting societal perceptions is public debate and step-by-step progress. Sweden has been working on this for decades – and still considers it a work in progress. Nevertheless, around 30% of Swedish fathers now use the so-called father’s quota and stay on parental leave for 90 days.

We Want to Work More, But Fewer Hours

Czech employers offer very few part-time jobs. This is partly because the state did not support them until recently. In recent years, employers have benefited from a 5% tax reduction on part-time contracts. However, the number of such positions has barely increased, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs still has significant work ahead.

“Companies often don’t know how to structure part-time work properly. People are then seen as burdens who cause more work for the team or end up earning less while working full-time. Both are wrong,” notes Petra Ondrušová from Česká spořitelna, where around 10% of jobs are part-time. Experts say the Czech economy is still too focused on shift work and manufacturing, making flexible work harder to implement. “We’re not a service-based Netherlands – our economy has unique structural limits,” adds Robin Maialeh, Vice-Rector for Research at ŠKODA AUTO University.

To enable real change, both work conditions and preschool facility operations must be adapted. Where kindergartens or children’s groups close at 4 p.m., parents literally rush out of work by 3 p.m. and arrive breathless to pick up the last child. Potential solutions include shared jobs and generally more flexible work arrangements. In Scandinavia, they follow the motto that the family is a shared project – and workplace conditions are tailored accordingly.

Neighbourhood Babysitting and More Parental Support

In recent years, the state has taken steps to support parents and recognize the need for change. Parental leave has been shortened to three years, the allowance increased to CZK 350,000, tax breaks introduced for part-time work, and an amendment proposed to the law on childcare services in children’s groups. But more needs to be done. Since May this year, a new concept of so-called neighbourhood babysitting has been introduced. It allows care for up to four children, requires a certified babysitter training, and adequate space. Parents must apply at the labour office, where they may also request operational subsidies. If a municipality cannot provide care for a child over three years of age, it is obliged to cover the family’s childcare costs. It will take time to assess whether this new model meets expectations.

“Further motivational steps are part of the revised Labour Code, which now includes provisions for remote work, adjustments to part-time contracts, and a system of shared employment. The so-called flexi amendment introduces an important change for parents: they can now work on agreement during parental leave in their original position. The job protection period extends until the child turns two,” says Šárka Jelínková, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. She adds that due to demographic trends, there will also be an increasing number of people caring for elderly family members, and the demand for in-home and social care, as well as flexible working hours, will grow.

Record-Low Birth Rates

In 2024, just over 84,000 children were born in Czechia – the lowest number in recorded history. However, this low birth rate is not primarily linked to parental leave or benefits. It’s mainly due to the fact that fewer people born in the 1990s are now of childbearing age. Birth rates are unlikely to fall further, since the number of births stabilized after 1995. “We need to understand that today’s low birth rate is a result of the past and should not be exploited in pre-election populist debates,” economist Petr Bartoň also emphasized. Whether systemic changes in family and social policy could boost birth rates is a complex question. Encouraging young people to start families is becoming increasingly difficult. Their decisions are influenced by the housing crisis, geopolitical instability, and climate change. What is certain and calculable, however, is that enabling an earlier return to work from parental leave will improve families’ quality of life, reduce penalties for mothers, and bring billions of crowns to the state budget to fund other – often underfinanced – social and family policies. And all this without parents losing a single crown of the support they currently receive.

The Mothers and Fathers Welcome conference is organized by Business for Society as part of the Diversity Charter. It traditionally focuses on parents in diverse life situations – whether they are “sandwich” generation caregivers, rainbow families, or single parents. This year’s partners were Česká spořitelna, a.s., Heimstaden Czech, s.r.o., and the Swedish Embassy in the Czech Republic.

The full photo gallery is available here: Photo Gallery

Presentations and additional materials from the *Mothers and Fathers Welcome 2025* conference can be found HERE